Places to see in ( Potenza - Italy )
Places to see in ( Potenza - Italy )
Potenza is a city and comune in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. Capital of the Province of Potenza and the Basilicata region, the city is the highest regional capital and one of the highest provincial capitals in Italy, overlooking the valley of the Basento river in the Apennine Mountains of Lucania, east of Salerno. Its territory is bounded by the comuni of Anzi, Avigliano, Brindisi Montagna, Picerno, Pietragalla, Pignola, Ruoti, Tito and Vaglio Basilicata.
The first settlement of Potentia (Potenza's original Latin name) was probably located at a lower elevation than at present, some 10 kilometres (6 miles) south of today's Potenza. The Lucani of Potentia sided against Rome's enemies during the latter's wars against the Samnites and the Bruttii. In the following years of Late Middle Ages, the city was owned by various feudal families before the Spanish domination, during which Potenza was the site of riots against the Spaniards. In 1694, it was almost completely destroyed by another earthquake.
Alot to see in Potenza such as :
Potenza Cathedral: The Duomo di San Gerardo, renovated in the 18th century. The cathedral still houses the rose window and the apse from the original 12th-century structure.
San Francesco: church founded in 1274. The portal and the bell tower date from the 15th century. The church houses the De Grasis sepulchre and a Madonna in Byzantine style (13th century).
The Torre Guevara, the last remnant of the old castle. It is now used to stage art exhibitions.
The Palazzo Loffredo, a 17th-century noble residence. It is now the seat of the Dinu Adameșteanu National Archaeological Museum.
Three gates of the old city walls, now demolished. The gates are the Porta San Giovanni, the Porta San Luca and the Porta San Gerardo.
San Michele: 11th-12th century Romanesque-style church.
Santa Maria del Sepolcro: church.
The ruins of a Roman villa in the Poggio Tre Galli quarter.
Musmeci Bridge, a unique construction, monument of modern civil engineering.
Potenza is a rail junction on the main line from Salerno to Taranto, managed by FS Trenitalia. It has also a connection to Altamura, served by the Ferrovie Appulo Lucane regional company. The city's main station, which was originally named Potenza Inferiore, is now known as Potenza Centrale.
The Province of Potenza, one of the two provinces of the Basilicata Region, comprises 100 municipalities, among which the city of Potenza, Italy's highest-altitude Regional Capital (2,687 ft). Just a few miles of the Province actually touch the Tyrrhenian Sea, while the rest of it is bordered by the Region of Campania on the west (Provinces of Salerno and Avellino), Apulia in the north (Provinces of Foggia, Barletta-Andria-Trani and Bari), the Province of Matera in the east, and Calabria in the south (Province of Cosenza).
( Potenza - Italy ) is well know as a tourist destination because of the variety of places you can enjoy while you are visiting Potenza . Through a series of videos we will try to show you recommended places to visit in Potenza - Italy
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Basilicata - Matera. Cap. 2°
LUCANIA... ASCOLTANDO IL SILENZIO - Capitolo 2° - MATERA
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English and italian version
Quality: 1.080p HD
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Pimo Capitolo ( ): Accettura e montagna materana. Parco della Grancia. Vulture e Laghi di Monticchio. Venosa e Orazio. Castel Lagopesole (Castello di Federico II). Acerenza. Palmenti di Pietragalla.
- Terzo Capitolo ( ) Aliano. Castelmezzano e le Dolomiti Lucane. Guardia Perticara. Craco.
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Photographer: Sandro Sansone
Soundtrack: Rione Junno: remix TarantBeatProject - Orchestra Joubès: Aire de chacarera
Project, concept and design, light effects, editing and mixing music: Sandro Sansone
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The Sassi di Matera (meaning stones of Matera) are ancient cave dwellings in the Italian city of Matera, Basilicata. Situated in the old town, they are composed of the Sasso Caveoso and the later Sasso Barisano.
The Sassi grew in the area of Murgia Plateau, extended between Apulia and Basilicata.
Matera has gained international fame for its Sassi. The Sassi originate from a prehistoric (troglodyte) settlement, and are suspected to be some of the first human settlements in Italy.
The Sassi are houses dug into the calcarenitic rock itself, which is characteristic of Basilicata and Puglia, and is locally called tufo though it should not be confused with the volcanic tuff nor with tufa. Many of these houses are really only caverns, and the streets in some parts of the Sassi often are located on the rooftops of other houses. The ancient town grew in height on one slope of the ravine created by a river that is now a small stream. The ravine is known locally as la Gravina.
In the 1950s, the government of Italy forcefully relocated most of the population of the Sassi to areas of the developing modern city. Riddled with malaria the unsanitary conditions were considered an affront to the new Italian Republic of Alcide De Gasperi. However, people continued to live in the Sassi, and according to the English Fodor's guide:
Matera is the only place in the world where people can boast to be still living in the same houses of their ancestors of 9,000 years ago.
Until the late 1980s this was considered an area of poverty, since these houses were, and in most areas still are, mostly unlivable. Current local administration, however, has become more tourism-oriented, and has promoted the re-generation of the Sassi with the aid of the European Union, the government, UNESCO, and Hollywood. Today there are many thriving businesses, pubs, and hotels.
One of the benefits of the ancient city, is that there is a great similarity in the look of the Sassi with that of ancient sites in and around Jerusalem. This has caught the eye of film directors and movie studios. Principally due to this reason the Sassi were the set of many films, as for example The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Pasolini, 1964), King David (Bruce Beresford, 1985), The Passion of the Christ (Gibson, 2004) and The Nativity Story (Hardwicke, 2006).
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Matera è una città tra le più antiche del mondo il cui territorio custodisce testimonianze di insediamenti umani a partire dal paleolitico rappresentando una pagina straordinaria scritta dall'uomo attraverso oltre 10.000 anni di storia.
Matera è la città dei Sassi, il nucleo urbano originario, sviluppatosi a partire dalle grotte naturali scavate nella roccia e successivamente modellate in strutture sempre più complesse all'interno di due grandi anfiteatri naturali che sono il Sasso Caveoso e il Sasso Barisano.
Nel 1993 l'UNESCO dichiara i Sassi di Matera Patrimonio Mondiale dell'Umanità.
I Sassi di Matera sono il 6° sito in Italia in ordine cronologico, il primo nel meridione.
L'architettura irripetibile dei Sassi di Matera racconta la capacità dell'uomo di adattarsi perfettamente all'ambiente e al contesto naturale, utilizzando con maestria semplici caratteristiche come la temperatura costante degli ambienti scavati, la calcarenite stessa del banco roccioso per la costruzione delle abitazioni fuori terra e l'utilizzo dei pendii per il controllo delle acque e dei fenomeni meteorici.
La struttura architettonica è costituita da due sistemi, quello immediamente visibile realizzato con le stratificazioni successive di abitazioni, corti, ballotoi, palazzi, chiese, strade orti e giardini, e quello interno e invisibile a prima vista costituito da cisterne, neviere, grotte cunicoli e sistemi di controllo delle acque, sistemi essenziali per la vita e la ricchezza della comunità.
I Sassi di Matera sorgono su uno dei versanti di un canyon scavato nel tempo dal torrente Gravina. Sull'altro versante si estende il Parco Archeologico Storico Naturale delle Chiese Rupestri del Materano, il cui paesaggio rappresenta il contesto originario dei luoghi, sviluppatosi nel tempo con gli insediamenti urbani soltanto sul versante opposto dei Sassi.