Campania · Salerno
Roscigno
A Cilento ghost town at 570 meters, emptied by a 1902 landslide and known as the Pompeii of the twentieth century.
Picked by Peter Benei
Letter to come
Roscigno is on our list.
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Visiting
- Best time
- Apr–Oct
- By car
- 1 h 19 min from Salerno
- Population
- 576
- J10°
- F12°
- M12°
- A16°
- M20°
- J26°
- J30°
- A29°
- S24°
- O20°
- N15°
- D11°
- Best
- Hot or crowded
- Quiet
- Mostly closed
Daytime air temperature, averages for 2020–2024. Weather data by Open-Meteo.com.
Why come
Roscigno sits on the slope of Monte Pruno, inside the Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni National Park, sixty kilometers inland from Salerno. The comune is split into two settlements that share little beyond a name. Roscigno Nuovo, built up the hill on safer ground, holds the 576 current residents and the ordinary business of the town. Below it, the old village keeps its stone houses, its square, its fountain and washing basins, and its church on its raised platform, arranged as they were when relocation laws pushed everyone uphill after the landslide.
The two halves face each other across that history: one lived in and unremarkable, the other empty and preserved by neglect rather than restoration. What draws people to Roscigno is not a monument but a whole abandoned settlement left standing, houses, square, and church together, a rural community's ordinary fabric intact and unoccupied rather than any single building.
How to get there
From Naples (NAP), about 2 h 3 min by car.
Bari (BRI) is about 3 h 5 min away.
By car from the center of Salerno 1 h 19 min, Naples 2 h 3 min or Bari 3 h 7 min.
Coming by train into Salerno? Roscigno is about 1 h 22 min away by road.
First time driving in Italy? Read our complete manual.
What to see
Roscigno Vecchia
Stone village of the 1600s and 1700s, its houses still standing along empty streets, unrestored and left as they were when the last families walked out.
Piazza Giovanni Nicotera
Main square with the original fountain and public washing basins still in place, framed by the empty houses and the church above.
Chiesa di San Nicola di Bari
Parish church on a raised platform above the piazza, unrestored, with a preserved wooden ceiling visible through the doors.
Museo della Civiltà Contadina
Six-room ethnographic museum in the former rectory and municipal house with about five hundred objects on grain, wool, wine and oil production.
Monte Pruno
Forested peak above the village, the watershed between the Calore Lucano and the Tanagro, hiked from the old village in around two hours.
Living here
Could you live here?
Roscigno is at the end of the road.
- A village of 576. The nearest town of 5,000 people, Roccadaspide, is 31 min away: past our 15-minute rule, which makes this the end of the road.
- Potenza, a city of 63,864, is 1 h 12 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 576, down 27.8% since 2015 (Italy's emptying towns)
- Nearest city Potenza, 1 h 12 min drive
- Nearest national health service hospital Polla, 17 km as the crow flies · how healthcare works in Italy
- Economy homes in the center: €540 to €680 per m² to buy, €1.50 to €1.90 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 98% of homes
- No primary school in the comune's register
- Earthquake zone 2, medium hazard
- Naples airport (NAP), 2 h 3 min drive, the nearest with scheduled flights
- Regional capital Naples, 2 h 3 min drive
If you are moving here
Who lives here
8% of residents are foreign citizens, most often from Romania, Tunisia and Moldova, against 9% across Italy. There are 611 people over 65 for every 100 children under 15, against 216 across Italy. 70% of homes have no resident, holiday homes and empty ones counted together, against 27% across Italy. Salerno province ranks 90th of 107 in Il Sole 24 Ore's quality of life ranking for 2025.
Health and schools
The nearest emergency room is in Polla, 17 km as the crow flies. The nearest major one is in Potenza, 48 km away. The nearest IB school is St. Stephen's School, 291 km as the crow flies. The nearest school listed as international is École Francaise de Naples Alexandre-Dumas, 106 km away.
Information, not medical advice. Confirm with a professional.
Taxes
A home that is not your main one pays 0.96% 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. The town adds 0.4% to your income tax. 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 Campania spends about €1,800 a month, €650 of it on food, against about €2,170 across Italy. A family of three pays about €328 a year for water, on the Campania average.
Climate and risk
It is in climate zone D, on a scale from A, the warmest, to F, the coldest, and heating may run from November 1 to April 15, up to 12 hours a day, unless the mayor changes it. The national maps show no residents in a high or medium flood zone. 8% 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
GHOST TOWN
Roscigno Vecchia emptied after the 1902 landslide and relocation laws of 1902 and 1908, with most families gone by the 1920s.
POMPEI DEL '900
Italian press name for Roscigno Vecchia; the village stayed largely intact and is now an open-air museum of rural Cilento life.
GIUSEPPE SPAGNUOLO
Self-appointed last resident, alone in the empty streets for over twenty years as guardian and tour guide until his death in January 2024.
Common questions
- What is Roscigno known for?
- Roscigno is a Cilento ghost town at 570 meters, emptied by a 1902 landslide and known as the Pompeii of the twentieth century.
- Where is Roscigno?
- Roscigno is a comune in the province of Salerno, in Campania.
- What is the nearest airport to Roscigno?
- The nearest airport with scheduled flights is Naples (NAP), about 2 h 3 min by car.
- How long is the drive from Salerno to Roscigno?
- About 1 h 19 min by car.
- When is the best time to visit Roscigno?
- Best in Apr–Oct. July is the warmest month, averaging 30 degrees, and November the wettest, with about 16 rain days.
- Which other towns are like Roscigno?
- Morigerati, Aieta and Aliano.
- How many people live in Roscigno?
- 576 residents, by ISTAT's count on 1 January 2025.
- Is Roscigno a good place to live?
- By the rules in our Where to Move in Italy series, Roscigno is at the end of the road: the nearest town of 5,000 people, Roccadaspide, is 31 min away. The nearest city, Potenza, is 1 h 12 min away by car. The nearest national health service hospital is in Polla, 17 km as the crow flies. Full fibre reaches 98% of homes.
Tags & data designations · numbers · sources
Recognized as
Landscape
The numbers
- Elevation: 570 m
- Population: 576
- Surface area: 15.18 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.
The ranked lists
Lists Roscigno appears in
- The 8 best hill towns inside a national park in CampaniaCampaniahill towninside a park8 towns · smallest 573 residents
- The best hill towns within 90 minutes of SalernoNear Salernohill townwithin 90 min9 towns · smallest 576 residents · closest 49 min away
- The best small towns inside a national park in the province of SalernoSalerno provinceinside a parksmall9 towns · smallest 573 residents
Similar
Towns like Roscigno
What all six share with Roscigno: inland, away from the coast · under 1,000 people · hill towns
The letter
Roscigno 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 Roscigno comes up. By Peter & Sophia, from Turin.
The nearest town we have written up is Cerveteri, 325 km away. Read its letter →
Paid plans, the moving year and the books are on the membership page.