San Mauro Forte

San Mauro Forte stands on a hill at about 540 metres in the central-western part of the province of Matera, among olive groves that have earned it a place among the «Cities of Oil». Its landmark is the Norman tower, a cylindrical keep about 25 metres high built around the year 1000.

Next to the tower stand the church of Santa Maria Assunta, from 1553, and the large Franciscan convent. In January, for Saint Anthony the Abbot, the village celebrates the Campanaccio: groups of men walk through the streets ringing huge cowbells, in a ritual tied to transhumance and the land.