Gravina di Puglia

Gravina is a nice town and worth a visit as off the usual tourist routes. I would day trip/half day trip from Matera or elsewhere. It isn't necessary to go through the hassle of changing accommodation to spend a night there. Matera, instead, is fantastic at night for the view over the Sassi.
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2022/01/puglia-in-october-gravina-in-puglia.html

There is a railway service, not on Trenitalia but on FAL (Ferrovie Appulo Lucane, https://ferrovieappulolucane.it). FAL run buses as well.

Most trains are Bari-Altamura-Gravina and vv., with corresponding trains waiting at Altamura for Matera and vv. The railway is narrow gauge and not very fast, but services are fairly frequent. If you check times carefully, any place may serve as accomodation for nearby places.

Caveat: I haven't been there yet, but am deep in the weeds of planning our trip to Puglia and surroundings this coming September.

Gravina is on my agenda. We'll be staying in Matera 3 nights and I'm planning a stop in Gravina, either on the way to Matera via a slight detour, or a daytrip out from Matera - not sure which way I'll do it (right now I'm inclined to make it a stop on our way to Matera from Taranto; I have other plans for a daytrip out from Matera, there's plenty of intriguing stuff in the region, including several places to the south). But Gravina does look to me like it's worth a visit (though I'm not sure it warrants an overnight).

@skdavis17 - since your trip is "this summer" (mine's in September) it would be great if you could post your impressions of the place if you do go. Thanks in advance.

PS: Uh-oh, a James Bond movie, eh? I consider an appearance in a popular movie to be the kiss of death for many places, hope that's not the case here.

According to my tour guide in Matera, only one scene was filmed in Gravina (Bond’s car driving over a Roman aqueduct or bridge) and the rest of the James Bond movie was filmed in Matera.

It's certainly worth a stopover, but you do not need to spend the night. Given the fact that it was in a film, is this town now a big tourist attraction?

A better place to overnight with the same "calanche" landscape might be the ancient town of Tursi, where there are at least two good places to stay that I know of, both in the ancient rabatana, the old Arab quarter.
Very few tourists visit Tursi as of now and it's quite a marvel. We spent one night last year, on our way from Senise to Matera. The view from the ancient quarter takes in the calanches and it's just magical. I imagine this will land on the tourist trail before too long but for now, you won't see many, if any, foreigners.

https://www.theorangeryretreat.com/blank

So, you do not have to go to Gravina to see the calanche; they are a predominant feature of the landscape in and around Tursi, Matera, Craco, Gravina di Puglia....this area is one the most scenically spectacular in Italy, in my opinion.

https://www.giroilmondoingiro.com/i-calanchi-un-luogo-incredibile-da-vedere-in-basilicata

@ekscrunchy - I have Tursi flagged as a possible day-trip stop, too. It would be competing for part of a day with Craco (which looks very intriguing to me, but access to Craco now appears possibly problematic/questionable), also Pisticci looks worthwhile. I was thinking of combining the three into a long out-and-back day trip from Matera, but I'm not sure if that would be stretching that day way too thin (the distances are not great but I'm guessing those roads may be slow going).

Based on your experience in the area, could you opine on whether trying to visit all three in one day is reasonable or too much, and which of the three towns to prioritize if all three can't be reasonably done in a full day (we will have a car, and tend to get up early).

Reply via PM is appreciated so as to not derail/hijack this thread. Thanks.

Thanks so much for all the great feedback! Sounds like I'll just tag Gravina di Puglia on as a daytrip option. I'll also be looking a bit more into Tursi as well, as it does seem worthwhile.

@David from Seattle-I'll be happy to report back how it all turns out and my thoughts on the cities!

@ekscrunchy-2nd article attached is especially interesting; Pietragalla looks so intriguing!

David. I just read your post..sorry to take so long to reply. I elaborate further later on, but for now I will say that the roads in that area are EXCELLENT!!! In top condition and with very little traffic, or at least that's what we encountered.

I don't know about visiting Craco now. When I went, there was a ramshackle fence around the town and we just walked through it, or over it--it was falling down. No one was around. I've read that now you have to take a tour, but honestly, the best might just be the view from outside....it's quite a sight but would not take long to get the idea. We did not walk very far into the town...there were some signs warning of poor walking conditions, etc... I love to visit these abandoned towns..there are also a couple easy to access in Sicily..

The part of Tursi that's most interesting is the old quarter, up the hill from the new town. It's very small and you could see a lot in one hour. But I'd be careful about timing your visit because the few businesses will be shuttered during the afternoon pausa. I think I'd plan to have either lunch or dinner there..ifi you take a late lunch you could walk around after when things would be open. Or walk around and have an early dinner. Again, there's not much open in the old quarter, as it's only now been discovered by a few foreigners who have bought old houses and are renovating them. It's really just to see the architecture, walk the stone lanes, and see the gorgeous view of the calanques.

The restaurant where we had dinner is this one, and they also have an attached hotel which looked lovely. The owner is a warm and interesting guy with a background in architecture who you will meet, I'm sure, if you go there..

https://www.palazzodeipoeti.it

We did not stay there but it looked wonderful!!

We stayed at a very interesting B&B owned by a woman Fromm London who is renovating a few houses in Tursi and lives there full time. She's fascinating: Martine is her name and this is her B&B; I think she only rents two rooms:

https://www.theorangeryretreat.com

Next time I might even spend a few nights in Tursi and take day trips from there, but that would not be a substitute for staying in Matera. Not at all....

Again, the roads are in excellent condition and the landscape you pass is absolutely glorious!! So to answer your question, (finally!) I think you could see those three places easily none day but you'd have to time your visit to make sure you don't get, especially, to Pisticci when everything is closed. (I did not spend much time there, as we were there in mid-afternoon, so we just parked and had a look around, and also visited a nice rural hotel near there that was opened by Canadians with roots in the area...I can look up the name if you would like. What I remember is being stuck in the hand in front of the hotel with a paddle from the fico d'India plant!! It took me all day to get those little needles out of my palm! We looked around the hotel and I filed it away for a future visit...I just adore that whole area of Basilicata.