Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
go wrong under the Romans, when Hannibal, the ferocious Carthaginian general, ram-
paged through the region.
In the 10th century the Byzantine emperor Basilikòs (976-1025) renamed the area,
overthrowing the Saracens in Sicily and the south and reintroducing Christianity. The pat-
tern of war and overthrow continued throughout the Middle Ages as the Normans, Hohen-
staufens, Angevins and Bourbons constantly tussled over its strategic location, right up
until the 19th century. As talk of the Italian unification began to gain ground, Bourbon-
sponsored loyalists took to Basilicata's mountains to oppose political change. Ultimately,
they became the much-feared bandits of local lore who make scary appearances in writ-
ings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In the 1930s Basilicata was used as a kind
of open prison for political dissidents - most famously the painter, writer and doctor Carlo
Levi - sent into exile to remote villages by the fascists.
WORTH A TRIP
POETIC VENOSA
About 70km north of Potenza, pretty Venosa used to be a thriving Roman colony, owing much of its prosperity to
being a stop on the Appian Way. It was also the birthplace of the poet Horace in 65 BC. The main reason to come
here is to see the remains of Basilicata's largest monastic complex.
Venosa's main square, Piazza Umberto I, is dominated by a 15th-century Aragonese castle with a small Museo
Archeologico ( 0972 3 60 95; Piazza Umberto I; admission €2.50; 9am-8pm Wed-Mon, 2-8pm Tue) that
houses finds from Roman Venusia and human bone fragments dating back 300,000 years.
Admission to the museum also gets you into the ruins of the Roman settlement ( 9am-1hr before dusk
Wed-Mon, 2pm-1hr before dusk Tue) and the graceful later ruins of Abbazia della Santissima Trinità ( 0972
3 42 11). At the northeastern end of town, the abbazia (abbey) was erected above the Roman temple around 1046
by the Benedictines and predates the Norman invasions. Within the complex is a pair of churches, one unfinished.
The earlier church contains the tomb of Robert Guiscard, a Norman crusader, and his fearsome half-brother
Drogo. The other unfinished church was begun in the 11th century using materials from the neighbouring Roman
amphitheatre. A little way south are some Jewish and Christian catacombs.
Hotel Orazio ( 0972 3 11 35; www.hotelorazio.it ; Vittorio Emanuele II 142; s €45-50, d/t €65/85) is a
17th-century palace complete with antique majolica tiles and marble floors, and is overseen by a pair of grand-
motherly ladies.
Venosa can be reached by taking bus S658 north from Potenza and exiting at Barile onto the S93. Buses run
Monday to Saturday from Potenza (€3.30, two hours, two daily).
TOP OF CHAPTER
Matera
POP 60,500 / ELEV 405M
 
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