Ghost town

Alianello is half way up to Aliano and was abandoned in 1980 after an earthquake (6.9 Richter). The inhabitants moved 1km up the road and built a new town but the buildings still stand.
Apparently Charles Dickens visited but I cannot discover if he wrote anything about it. Carlo Levi passed through on his way up the mountain but he too did not have much to say about it. I passed through it and also have nothing to say about it.
Whilst I was nosing around I met a chap born in 1951 who did have quite a lot to say, but mainly about the civil administration and how they reburied Carlo Levi in a fancier tomb in Aliano when they realised what a drawcard it would be for the town. He mentioned that it used to be spelt Gagliano, something which had confused me since there is another town of that name a hundred km away, but CL had pointed out that etymologically it should be Aliano, so that is how it appears now. He was most enthusiastic about the enormous debt they owe the writer.
Another interesting thing he said was that the Sauro river which converges with the Agri in the wide valley underneath used to be navigable and the people were able to take a ferry down to a larger town for work. That ended when the river was dammed. I tried to put dates to this, but could not understand his dialect: on the face of it the river must have begun to dry up long before the construction work to tally with what others have written.Leggi altro