Andrea Resta and Craco

Basilicata

Craco, Basilicata, Italy



On August 27, 1884, my paternal grandfather, Andrea Resta, was born at Vico Tito 11, in the commune of Craco in Basilicata, a region of Southern Italy, nestled between Campania and Puglia.  Basilicata is hauntingly beautiful but rugged, and the people who lived in this region in the 19th Century had to scrape out a living in a mountainous, rocky terrain.  We were fortunate to be able to visit Basilicata and Craco recently, which has been a ghost town since about 1968.

Decree Restricting Access

Craco is a fascinating place and was designated by World Monument Fund as a  Watch Site.  The town was initially settled by the Greeks in the 8th Century A.D., but the caves in Craco have been occupied since Paleolithic times.  It was initially known as Monte D'Or but the name evolved to Craco several centuries ago, probably because of the sound of the crows roosting in the Norman Tower, the tallest structure in the town, which was built in the 11th Century.

Because of the abandonment and deterioration, Craco is a restricted zone, and one can only tour with a commune guide.  Our guide, William, was not only extremely knowledgeable about the history of Craco, but was fluent in English as well.  Because of the decay, Craco is a hard-hat zone:

We were able to arrange for our tour in advance through information provided by the Craco Society, an organization in the United States composed of people whose ancestors were Crachesi and whose mission is to preserve the culture and heritage of this unique town.  The Craco Society provides a wealth of information about this historic town and its residents and can be found at thecracosociety.org.

As I've noted before, I barely knew my grandfather, Andrea Resta, having seen him only sporadically when I was a child.  I really don't know how well my father knew him (for reasons in a subsequent post) but I think not very well.  In fact, my father always said we were Calabrian, which was obviously wrong.  The Resta side of the family goes back generations in Craco.

Vico Tito, where Andrea Resta was born.  #11 was behind the white façade.

Andrea Resta was, as noted, born on August 27, 1884 at Vico Tito 11 to Pasquale Resta and Porzia D-Ursosimonetti.  Porzia, a life-long resident of Craco, married Pasquale in 1869, when she was 23.  Pasquale was apparently from another town in Italy, since his name does not appear in the census for Craco for either 1857 or 1869, it appears that Pasquale, my great-grandfather, came to Craco sometime after 1857.  I have located  Pasquale Resta's in Southern Italy in the 1850's and 1860's but I have not yet been able to definitively identify him.  The best estimate is, however, that he was from Bari, a city in Puglia. 

Porzia's story is quite interesting.  She was born in 1843 to Carmina D'Ursosimonetti, her mother and a resident of Craco, but her father is shown as incognito, rendering her illegitimate.  In fact, the 1857 Craco Census shows her as illegitimate.  I am told this was fairly common at this time in Italy because of property laws which restricted the rights of second and third sons to marry to avoid property disputes.  It appears that Porzia's father was Donato Marmo, a farmer.  The 1857 Craco census shows that Donato Marmo and Carmina D'Ursosimonetti were married, presumably to each other with Porzia, 14, and Isabella Marmo, 2, who is shown as legitimate.  Apparently Carmina and Donato were married sometime after the birth of Porzia in 1843 but before the birth of Isabella in 1855.  The family resided at Via Pisteria 336.  Carmina and Donato Marmo are, I believe, my great-great grandparents.

The Marmo family had dramatically changed by the time of the 1865 census, having moved on Via Piteria from #336 to #471.  The residents were Porzia D'Ursosimonetti di Carmina (daughter of Carmina), Carmina D-Ursosimonetti fu Nicola (daughter of the late Nicola) and Pietro D'Ursosimonetti di Porzia, the son of Porzia.  Since Porzia was not married to Pasquale Resta until 1869, some four years later, Pietro was also an illegitimate child with a father that was incognita.  Pasquake and Porzia had two other children before Andrea, Maria Maddelena Resta, born in 1872 and Vitantonio Resta, born in 1876.

Carmina's parents, my great-great-great-grandparents, were Nicola D'Ursosimonetti and Isabella Salamone, both residents of Craco.  Isabella Marmo, Porzia's half-sister, was probably named after Isabella Salamone, her grandmother. 

I suspect that much of this is confusing, but the important facts are:

Paternal Grandfather:  Andrea Resta
Great-grandparents- Pasquale Resta and Porzia D-Ursosimonetti
Great-great Grandparents- Carmina D-Ursosimonetti and Donato Marmo
Great-great-great grandparents - Nicola D'Usosimonetti and Isabella Salamone.

Just a couple of notes to finish this up.  The D'Ursosimonetti surname probably came from two separate families joining forces in antiquity:  The D'Urso clan and the Simonetti family.  The Simonetti's have been in Craco from when the memory of man runneth not.  In fact, one of the four major palazzo in Craco is Palazzo Simonetti.  We tried to visit this palazzo but a squatter, a shepherd, had taken over possession of the palazzo and was using it to house some two hundred animals.  The commune has been trying to evict him for some four years without success.  So much for the Italian legal system.

Craco was abandoned in about 1968 because of landslides-the portion of the town that was not built on rock simply slid into the valley over the years preceding the abandonment.  The landslides were not naturally occurring, however.  After the Second World War, a gravity-fed municipal water system was installed in the Norman Tower, providing water to the town.  Before the installation of this system, the water supply was individual cisterns for each household  that collected rainwater.  After the municipal system was installed, the townspeople stopped using the cisterns, which continued to collect rainwater and fed it into the clay sub-soil, eventually washing away the sub-soil, causing the landslides into the valley. 

Finally, Craco is truly endangered, not only by deterioration but by theft.  Virtually everything of value has been stolen from the ton over the years, including the marble altar in the church and, most recently, the floor tiles from the Palazzo Grossi, one of the large houses remaining in the town.  Although the commune government is trying to stabilize the town, there is very little by way of resources - so the deterioration continues.  Hopefully, this remarkable place will not crumble into dust.