Basilicata · Potenza
Guardia Perticara
The stone village at 678 meters above the Sauro valley, rebuilt block by block in Gorgoglione sandstone after the 1980 earthquake.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Why Guardia Perticara is on our list
It holds Borghi più belli d'Italia and Bandiera Arancione.
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Visiting
- Best time
- May–Oct
- By car
- 2 h 9 min from Salerno
- Population
- 508
- J9°
- F11°
- M12°
- A15°
- M21°
- J27°
- J31°
- A30°
- S25°
- O20°
- N14°
- D11°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Guardia Perticara sits at 678 meters above the valley of the Sauro stream in the south of the Potenza province, a hundred and twenty kilometers from Cosenza. The Saracens destroyed the earlier settlement in the tenth century; the medieval village that grew up afterward was built almost entirely in the local Gorgoglione sandstone, the warm honey-grey stone that gives the place its name as the paese delle case in pietra, the village of stone houses. The 1980 Irpinia earthquake damaged most of the settlement.
The reconstruction that followed was unusual: rather than concrete, the village was rebuilt block by block in the original stone, with the original portals, stairs, arches and wrought-iron balconies preserved or replaced in kind. The result became a textbook case of conservation reconstruction, and the village has been used as a film set repeatedly, including for Francesco Rosi's Cristo si è fermato a Eboli and for Basilicata Coast to Coast. Piazza Europa was one of Rosi's main locations. Guardia Perticara carries Borghi più belli and Bandiera Arancione both.
How to get there
From Bari (BRI), about 2 h 37 min by car.
Naples (NAP) is about 2 h 53 min away.
By car from the center of Salerno 2 h 9 min, Bari 2 h 38 min or Naples 2 h 53 min.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Centro storico in pietra
Medieval village built in Gorgoglione sandstone, rebuilt in kind after the 1980 earthquake, with original portals, stairs, arches and wrought-iron balconies.
Piazza Europa
Main square at the heart of the village, used as a primary location by Francesco Rosi when filming Cristo si è fermato a Eboli.
Chiesa Madre di San Nicola
Mother church on the upper village, rebuilt after the 1980 earthquake along with the surrounding stone houses.
Belvedere sulla valle del Sauro
Ridge viewpoint over the Sauro stream and the calanchi of the Aliano basin to the east, the orientation marker of the village.
Living here
Could you live here?
Guardia Perticara is at the end of the road.
- A village of 508. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Sant'Arcangelo, is 51 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Potenza, a city of 63,864, is 1 h 14 min by car. Further than our 30 to 60 minutes, a long way for the hospital visit or the monthly shopping.
The rules come from our series Where to Move in Italy, written from the places we have lived: Part 1, The End of the Road · Part 2, The Small Town · Part 3, The City · Part 4, The Postcard · Part 5, The Other Half. The towns we would pick are in Part 6, The Best Towns.
- Population 508, down 8.6% since 2015
- Nearest city Potenza, 1 h 14 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Marsicovetere, 24 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Homes in the center: €485 to €570 per m² to buy, €1.60 to €2.00 per m² a month to rent
All the numbers Common questions, designations, lists and sources.
More about living here
- Very remote
- Pharmacy in town
- High school within a 30-minute drive
- Full fibre reaches 99% of homes
- Primary school in the comune
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Bari airport (BRI), 2 h 37 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Potenza, 1 h 14 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
6% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from France and Romania, against 9% across Italy. There are 486 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 55% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Potenza province ranks 84th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Marsicovetere, 24 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Potenza, 42 km away. The nearest IB school is Gonzaga International School Palermo, 343 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is International School of Brindisi, 156 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 0.6% a year in property tax, charged on the cadastral value rather than the price. A main home pays none unless it is in a luxury category. 7% pensioner tax: this town qualifies, for someone with a foreign pension who has lived abroad for five years: 7% on foreign income, for ten years.
Information, not tax advice. Confirm with a professional.
What it costs
The average household in Basilicata spends about €1,890 a month, €580 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €459 a year for water, on the Basilicata average.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone E, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from October 15 to April 15, up to 14 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. The national maps show no residents in a high or medium flood zone. 7% live in a zone rated high or very high for landslides.
These shares cover the whole comune, not any one street. Check an address on IdroGEO.
Moving from abroad? Which visa you need. Sources: ISTAT, the Ministry of Health, ISPRA, the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Enterprise, Poste Italiane, the comuni, the IB, International Schools Database, Il Sole 24 Ore, Cittadinanzattiva.
Known for
STONE
Gorgoglione sandstone houses with original portals and arches, rebuilt block by block after the 1980 earthquake as a conservation case study.
FILM SET
Piazza Europa filmed by Francesco Rosi for Cristo si è fermato a Eboli, and by Rocco Papaleo for Basilicata Coast to Coast.
BORGHI BANDIERA
Holds both the Borghi più belli d'Italia listing and the Bandiera Arancione.
CANESTRATO DI MOLITERNO
The commune lies inside the Canestrato di Moliterno IGP production zone.
Common questions
- What is Guardia Perticara known for?
- Guardia Perticara is the stone village at 678 meters above the Sauro valley, rebuilt block by block in Gorgoglione sandstone after the 1980 earthquake.
- Where is Guardia Perticara?
- Guardia Perticara is a comune in the province of Potenza, in Basilicata.
- What is the nearest airport to Guardia Perticara?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Bari (BRI), about 2 h 37 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Salerno to Guardia Perticara?
- About 2 h 9 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Guardia Perticara?
- Best in May–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 31 degrees, and November the wettest, with about 13 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Guardia Perticara?
- Cimbergo, Sadali and Glurns.
- How many people live in Guardia Perticara?
- 508 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Guardia Perticara a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Guardia Perticara is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Sant'Arcangelo, is 51 min away. The nearest city, Potenza, is 1 h 14 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Marsicovetere, 24 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 99% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 678 m
- Population: 508
- Surface area: 53.68 km²
These figures were compiled from public directories: ISTAT, OpenStreetMap and Wikidata, and from the official listings of the guides named on this page. Town details change; verify with official sources before you travel.
Similar
Towns like Guardia Perticara
What all six share with Guardia Perticara: mountain-valley towns · under 1,000 people · high up, between 600 and 1,000 metres
The letter
Guardia Perticara is on our list. Its letter is still to come.
We are writing about all 1,000 of these towns, one at a time, in a free letter: the photo, what is worth eating, and when to turn up. That is our mission. Sign up and you will be there when Guardia Perticara comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Scheggino, 378 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.