Colobraro ( Lucano: ) is a town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces ('' province''). The can ...

'' in the

province of Matera The province of Matera ( it, Provincia di Matera; Materano: ) is a province in the Basilicata region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Matera. It has an area of and a total population of 201,133; the city Matera has a population of 61,204. Th ...

, in the southern Italian region of

Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...

. The town is positioned on a high hill dominating the valley of the river Sinni, near the town of

Valsinni Valsinni is a village and ''comune'' in the province of Matera, in the Basilicata region of southern Italy. The village is bordered by Colobraro, Nocara, Noepoli, Nova Siri, Rotondella and San Giorgio Lucano. History The territory of the "comun ...

Geography

Colobraro is located in southern Italy in the region of Basilicata. It is one of the agricultural centers in the Sinni River valley, located on the southern slopes of Mount Calvario at a height of 630 m, with views of the whole

Ionian Sea The Ionian Sea ( el, Ιόνιο Πέλαγος, ''Iónio Pélagos'' ; it, Mar Ionio ; al, Deti Jon ) is an elongated bay of the Mediterranean Sea. It is connected to the Adriatic Sea to the north, and is bounded by Southern Italy, including ...

coast. Colobraro is located near Highway 653, not far from the dam built on the Sinni River and Mount Cotugno. It borders the towns of

Tursi Tursi ( Tursitano: ; grc, Θυρσοί, translit=Thursoí; la, Tursium) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Matera, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata. History In the 9th century it was a stronghold of the Saracens in sout ...

, Rotondella,

Senise Senise is a town in the province of Potenza, Basilicata, southern Italy. It is near Monte Cotugno Lake Monte may refer to: Places Argentina * Argentine Monte, an ecoregion * Monte Desert * Monte Partido, a ''partido'' in Buenos Aires Province ...

Sant'Arcangelo Sant'Arcangelo is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , d ...

and

Noepoli Noepoli is a '' comune'' in the province of Potenza, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata. This ancient Lucanian village is situated in the Sarmento Valley, at the heart of the Pollino National Park Pollino National Park (Italian: ''Par ...

. Colobraro is about 80 km from the province's capital of

Matera Matera (, ; Materano: ) is a city in the region of Basilicata, in Southern Italy. As the capital of the province of Matera, its original settlement lies in two canyons carved by the Gravina River. This area, the Sassi di Matera, is a com ...

, and about 130 km from the region's capital of

Potenza Potenza (, also , ; , Potentino dialect: ''Putenz'') is a ''comune'' in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata (former Lucania). Capital of the Province of Potenza and the Basilicata region, the city is the highest regional capital and o ...

History

The hamlet is known as the "village without a name".''Colobraro'' Atlas Obscura (in English)
/ref> Its name is considered a bringer of bad luck in the nearby towns, where Colobraro is usually mentioned in the local dialects simply as or , all simply meaning "that village". The origin of the town's reputation for bringing bad luck stems from a tale in which a successful lawyer, who took on a case in Colobraro, proclaimed that if he were not to win the case, the chandelier in the courthouse should fall. At that exact moment, the chandelier fell and shattered. Since then, the town has been associated with bad luck. The haunted village known as Italy's 'unluckiest' town. By Sonia Taylor, Honey Travel
/ref> Many stories are told of freak accidents and instances involving , powerful women reputed in southern Italy in the 1950s to cast spells and use black magic, thus fixing Colobraro's reputation for being unlucky and cursed. Additionally, the name Colobraro derives from the Latin word , meaning serpent, often considered the embodiment of evil.

References

Cities and towns in Basilicata {{Basilicata-geo-stub