Gesualdo
Member of I Borghi più belli d'Italia
Carlo Gesualdo, the madrigal composer and Prince of Venosa, turned the castle here into a home for musicians and poets in the late 1500s, and the town still calls itself the city of the Prince of Musicians. Its old houses wrap around the castle rock in concentric rings, with terraces looking out over the Fredane valley in central Irpinia.
Highlights
- Castello di Gesualdo, with four round towers, partly reopened after the 1980 earthquake
- The Baroque quarter east of the castle, with squares, fountains and wide stairways
- Palazzo Pisapia and Palazzo Mattioli, noble houses restored after 1980
- Volo dell'Angelo: a child dressed as an angel crosses the square by rope
- Carnevale Gesualdino, a parade of cardboard floats and masked groups
Text adapted from Wikipedia (Gesualdo (Italia), Gesualdo, Campania), Wikivoyage (Gesualdo). Available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Population: 3,234
Things to see
Events through the year
- Passione di GesualdoLiving Passion after the Way of the Cross, crucifixion on the castle bastions
- Gesualdo Fork EventFolk music festival in Piazza Neviera
- Saperi e SaporiShows and local food in the old centre
- Volo dell'AngeloA child dressed as an angel flies on a cable over Piazza Neviera
- Vambalèrie di Sant'AndreaBonfires lit in the streets and countryside for Saint Andrew
- Feast of Saint Nicholas
Dates follow the traditional patterns in our sources: check locally before you travel.
Adapted from Wikipedia (Gesualdo (Italia)), Wikivoyage (Gesualdo). Available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Local food & wine
- Gesualdo celery (accio)Local produceCelery with a regional typicality mark
- Pomodorino seccagnoLocal produceDry-farmed small tomato with a regional typicality mark
- Irpinia Campi TaurasiniWineIrpinia DOC subzone wine
- Irpinia Colline dell'UfitaOlive oilProtected oil
- Menesta 'mmaretataDishVegetables and meat in broth
- SoppressataCured meat
Adapted from Wikipedia (Gesualdo (Italia)). Available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Where to sleep
No places to stay are mapped within 3 km.
Data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Thermal baths nearby
- Thermal spa: Terme di Villamaina · ~9 min by car
Data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Nearby member villages
- Frigento · 2.3 km
- Nusco · 13 km
- Zungoli · 17 km
- Savignano Irpino · 27 km
- Summonte · 28 km