Venosa

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Venosa
Città di Venosa
Venosa.jpg
View of Venosa
Venosa-Stemma.svg
Location of Venosa
Venosa
Italy provincial location map 2016.svg
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Venosa
Location of Venosa in Italy
Italy Basilicata location map.svg
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Venosa
Venosa (Basilicata)
Coordinates: 40°57′42.37″N15°48′53.23″E / 40.9617694°N 15.8147861°E / 40.9617694; 15.8147861
Country Italy
Region Basilicata
Province Potenza (PZ)
Government
  MayorFrancesco Mollica (Azione)
Area
[1]
  Total
170.39 km2 (65.79 sq mi)
Elevation
415 m (1,362 ft)
Population
 (31 December 2015) [2]
  Total
11,863
  Density70/km2 (180/sq mi)
Demonym Venosini
Time zone UTC+1 (CET)
  Summer (DST) UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code
85029
Dialing code 0972
Patron saint St Roch
(formerly St Felix of Thibiuca)
Saint dayAugust 16
Website Official website

Venosa (Lucano: Vënòsë [və'noʊzə] ) is a town and comune in the province of Potenza, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata, in the Vulture area. It is bounded by the comuni of Barile, Ginestra, Lavello, Maschito, Montemilone, Palazzo San Gervasio, Rapolla and Spinazzola. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("The most beautiful villages of Italy"). [3]

Contents

History

Antiquity

The city was known as Venusia ("City of Venus") to the Romans, who credited its establishment—as Aphrodisia ("City of Aphrodite")—to the Homeric hero Diomedes. He was said to have moved to Magna Graecia in southern Italy following the Trojan War, seeking a life of peace and building the town and its temples to appease the anger of Aphrodite for the destruction of her beloved Troy.

The town was taken by the Romans after the Third Samnite War in 291 BC and became a colony for its strategical position between Apulia and Lucania. No fewer than 20,000 men were sent there, owing to its military importance.

Throughout the Hannibalic wars, it remained faithful to Rome, and had a further contingent of colonists sent in 200 BC to replace its losses in the war. In 190 BC the Appian Way was extended to the town. Some coins of Venusia of this period exist.

It took part in the Social War, and was recaptured by Quintus Metellus Pius; it then became a municipium , but in 43 BC its territory was assigned to the veterans of the triumvirs, and it became a colony once more.

Horace was born here in 65 BC. His father's estate in Venusia was confiscated by Augustus after his victory in the civil wars for the settlement of veterans, like many others throughout Italy.

It remained an important place under the Empire as a station on the Via Appia, though Theodor Mommsen's description of it as having branch roads to Aequum Tuticum and Potentia, and Kiepert's maps annexed to the volume, do not agree with one another. [4]

Late antiquity

During Late Antiquity, Venosa housed the second-largest Jewish community in Italy, following Rome. While specific founding dates are elusive, evidence suggests Jews resided in Venosa for centuries. [5]

The Jews of Venosa initially buried their dead in a set of catacombs, likely built and used between the 4th and 6th centuries AD. When the catacombs fell out of use, local Jews began burying their deceased on the hill atop the catacombs, with some tombstones dating back to the 9th century still visible, repurposed into the walls of a church nearby. Inscriptions, primarily in Greek and Latin, exhibit a transition to Hebrew, while artistic themes show a preference for Jewish symbols such as the menorah. Despite this distinct identity, the community actively engaged with broader society, with Jewish officials holding public positions in the town. [5]

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Venusia was sacked by the Heruls, and in 493 AD it was turned into the administrative centre of the area in the Ostrogothic kingdom of Italy, although later this role was moved to Acerenza.

The Lombards made it a gastaldate in 570/590.

Middle Ages

In 842 Venosa was sacked by the Saracens, who were later ousted by Emperor Louis II.

Next rulers in the 9th century were the Byzantines, who lost control of it after their defeat in 1041 by the Normans. Under the latter, Venosa was assigned to Drogo of Hauteville. In 1133 the town was sacked and set on fire by Roger II of Sicily.

His later successor Frederick II had a castle built here where a Lombard outpost existed before, which was to house the Treasury (Ministry of Finances) of the Kingdom of Sicily.

Frederick's son, Manfred of Sicily, was perhaps born here in 1232. After the latter's fall, the Hohenstaufens were replaced by the Angevines; King Charles of Anjou assigned Venosa as a county to his son Robert.

Modern era

After a series of different feudal lords, Venosa became a possession of the Orsini in 1453. Count Pirro Del Balzo, who had married Donata Orsini, built a new castle (1460–1470) and a cathedral.

Then, during Aragonese rule, the Gesualdo family, which included the notorious prince and musician Carlo Gesualdo, took control in 1561.

Despite the plague that had reduced its population from the 13,000 of 1503 to 6,000, Venosa had a flourishing cultural life under the Gesualdos: apart from the famous Carlo, other relevant figures of the period include the poet Luigi Tansillo (1510–1580) and the jurist Giovanni Battista De Luca (1614–1683).

Venosa took part in the revolt of Masaniello in 1647. The Gesualdos were in turn followed by the Ludovisi and the Caracciolo families.

Home to a traditionally strong republican tradition, Venosa had a role in the peasant revolts and the Carbonari movement of the early 19th century.

A true civil war between baronial powers and supporters of the peasants' rights broke out in 1849, being harshly suppressed by the Neapolitan troops.(See Sicilian revolution of independence of 1848.)

In 1861, after the fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies during the Italian unification, Venosa was occupied by some bands of brigands under the command of Carmine Crocco in order to restore the Bourbon power in Basilicata.

Main sights

The Aragonese Castle. Castello Venosa2.jpg
The Aragonese Castle.
The Church of SS. Trinita. SS. Trinita Venosa.jpg
The Church of SS. Trinità.
The Archaeological Area of Notarchirico. Venosa Notarchirico.jpg
The Archaeological Area of Notarchirico.

People

Twin towns

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References

  1. "Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  2. "Popolazione Residente al 1° Gennaio 2018". Italian National Institute of Statistics. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  3. "Basilicata" (in Italian). Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 Wikisource-logo.svg One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain :  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Venusia". Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 1014.
  5. 1 2 Rutgers, Leonard V.; Bradbury, Scott (2006). "19: The Diaspora, C. 235 – 638". In Katz, Steven T. (ed.). The Cambridge History of Judaism, Volume IV: The Late Roman-Rabbinic Period. The Cambridge History of Judaism. pp. 499–502.