Venosa
Encyclopedia
Venosa 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
.
after the Trojan War
. He dedicated Venusia to the goddess Aphrodite
, also known as Venus
, to appease her after the Trojans were defeated.
It was taken by the Romans
after the Third Samnite War of 291 BC
, and became a colony at once. 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 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.
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 Equus Tuticus and Potentia.
, Venusia was sacked by the Heruls, and in 493 AD it was turned into the administrative centre of the area in the Ostrogoth
ic kingdom of Italy, although later this role was moved to Acerenza
.
The Lombards
made it a gastald
ate in 570/590.
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 born here in 1232. After the latter's fall, the Hohenstaufen
s were replaced by the Angevines
; King Charles of Anjou assigned Venosa as a county to his son Robert.
Then, under the Aragonese
domination, followed the Gesualdo
family (1561); amongst their member was the famous prince, musician and murderer Carlo Gesualdo.
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 some role in the peasant revolts and the Carbonari
movement of the early 19th century.
A true civil war between baronal 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 it was occupied by the Briganti
under the command of Carmine Crocco
.
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
in the province of Potenza
Province of Potenza
The Province of Potenza is a province in the Basilicata region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Potenza.-Geography:It has an area of 6,545 km² and a total population of 387,107 . There are 100 comuni in the province .-History:In 272 B.C. the province was conquered by the Greek army...
, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata
Basilicata
Basilicata , also known as Lucania, is a region in the south of Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south, having one short southwestern coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea between Campania in the northwest and Calabria in the southwest, and a...
, in the Vulture area
Vulture area
The Vulture is a geographical and historical subregion of Italy that lies in the Province of Potenza, Basilicata region.-Overview:...
. It is bounded by the comuni of Barile
Barile
Barile is a town and comune in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. It is bounded by the comuni , of Ginestra, Rapolla, Rionero in Vulture, Ripacandida, Venosa. The town is an ancient Arbëreshë settlement and the population still maintains strong links with that...
, Ginestra
Ginestra
Ginestra / Zhura is a town and comune in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. It is bounded by the comuni , of Barile, Forenza, Maschito, Ripacandida, Venosa....
, Lavello
Lavello
Lavello is a town and comune in the province of Potenza, in the region of Basilicata of southern Italy; it is located in the Vulture traditional region, in the middle Ofanto valley.-History:...
, Maschito
Maschito
Maschito is a town and comune of the province of Potenza, in the Basilicata region of southern Italy. Like other towns in the Vulture area, Maschito was repopulated by Albanian refugees after the occupation of Albania by the Ottoman Empire.-Geography:Located Northeast of Basilicata, it is a small...
, Montemilone
Montemilone
Montemilone is a town and comune in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata....
, Palazzo San Gervasio
Palazzo San Gervasio
Palazzo San Gervasio is a small agricultural town and comune in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. Its history dates back over 500 years...
, Rapolla
Rapolla
Rapolla is a town and comune in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. It is bounded by the comuni of Barile, Lavello, Melfi, Rionero in Vulture, Venosa.-Main sights:...
and Spinazzola
Spinazzola
Spinazzola is a town and comune in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, Apulia, Italy.-Famous people:*Pope Innocent XII was born here in the castle of the Pignatelli family, now destroyed....
.
Ancient
Venusia was supposedly one of many cities said to be founded by the Greek hero DiomedesDiomedes
Diomedes or Diomed is a hero in Greek mythology, known for his participation in the Trojan War.He was born to Tydeus and Deipyle and later became King of Argos, succeeding his maternal grandfather, Adrastus. In Homer's Iliad Diomedes is regarded alongside Ajax as one of the best warriors of all...
after the Trojan War
Trojan War
In Greek mythology, the Trojan War was waged against the city of Troy by the Achaeans after Paris of Troy took Helen from her husband Menelaus, the king of Sparta. The war is among the most important events in Greek mythology and was narrated in many works of Greek literature, including the Iliad...
. He dedicated Venusia to the goddess Aphrodite
Aphrodite
Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation.Her Roman equivalent is the goddess .Historically, her cult in Greece was imported from, or influenced by, the cult of Astarte in Phoenicia....
, also known as Venus
Venus (mythology)
Venus is a Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty, sex,sexual seduction and fertility, who played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths...
, to appease her after the Trojans were defeated.
It was taken by the Romans
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
after the Third Samnite War of 291 BC
291 BC
Year 291 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Megellus and Brutus...
, and became a colony at once. No fewer than 20,000 men were sent there, owing to its military importance.
Throughout the Hannibalic wars it remained faithful to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, and had a further contingent of colonists sent in 200 BC to replace its losses in war. In 190 BC
190 BC
Year 190 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Asiaticus and Laelius...
the Appian way
Appian Way
The Appian Way was one of the earliest and strategically most important Roman roads of the ancient republic. It connected Rome to Brindisi, Apulia, in southeast Italy...
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
Municipium
Municipium , the prototype of English municipality, was the Latin term for a town or city. Etymologically the municipium was a social contract between municipes, the "duty holders," or citizens of the town. The duties, or munera, were a communal obligation assumed by the municipes in exchange for...
, but in 43 BC its territory was assigned to the veterans of the triumvirs, and it became a colony once more.
Horace
Horace
Quintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
was born here in 65 BC.
It remained an important place under the Empire as a station on the Via Appia, though Theodor Mommsen
Theodor Mommsen
Christian Matthias Theodor Mommsen was a German classical scholar, historian, jurist, journalist, politician, archaeologist, and writer generally regarded as the greatest classicist of the 19th century. His work regarding Roman history is still of fundamental importance for contemporary research...
's description of it as having branch roads to Equus Tuticus and Potentia.
Middle Ages
After the fall of the Western Roman EmpireWestern Roman Empire
The Western Roman Empire was the western half of the Roman Empire after its division by Diocletian in 285; the other half of the Roman Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire, commonly referred to today as the Byzantine Empire....
, Venusia was sacked by the Heruls, and in 493 AD it was turned into the administrative centre of the area in the Ostrogoth
Ostrogoth
The Ostrogoths were a branch of the Goths , a Germanic tribe who developed a vast empire north of the Black Sea in the 3rd century AD and, in the late 5th century, under Theodoric the Great, established a Kingdom in Italy....
ic kingdom of Italy, although later this role was moved to Acerenza
Acerenza
Acerenza is a town and comune in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata.-History:With its strategic position 800 m above sea-level, Acerenza has been sacked by a series of invaders....
.
The Lombards
Lombards
The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...
made it a gastald
Gastald
A gastald was a Lombard official in charge of some portion of the royal demesne with civil, martial, and judicial powers. By the Edictum Rothari of 643, the gastalds were given the civil authority in the cities and the reeves the like authority in the countryside...
ate in 570/590.
In 842 Venosa was sacked by the Saracens, who were later ousted by Emperor Louis II
Louis II, Holy Roman Emperor
Louis II the Younger was the King of Italy and Roman Emperor from 844, co-ruling with his father Lothair I until 855, after which he ruled alone. Louis's usual title was imperator augustus , but he used imperator Romanorum after his conquest of Bari in 871, which led to poor relations with Byzantium...
.
Next rulers in the 9th century were the Byzantines
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...
, who lost control of it after their defeat in 1041 by the Normans. Under the latter, Venosa was assigned to Drogo of Hauteville
Drogo of Hauteville
Drogo of Hauteville succeeded his brother, William Iron Arm, with whom he arrived in southern Italy c. 1035, as the leader of the Normans of Apulia....
. In 1133 the town was sacked and set on fire by Roger II of Sicily
Roger II of Sicily
Roger II was King of Sicily, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, later became Duke of Apulia and Calabria , then King of Sicily...
.
His later successor Frederick II
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick II , was one of the most powerful Holy Roman Emperors of the Middle Ages and head of the House of Hohenstaufen. His political and cultural ambitions, based in Sicily and stretching through Italy to Germany, and even to Jerusalem, were enormous...
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
Kingdom of Sicily
The Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy...
.
Frederick's son, Manfred of Sicily
Manfred of Sicily
Manfred was the King of Sicily from 1258 to 1266. He was a natural son of the emperor Frederick II of Hohenstaufen but his mother, Bianca Lancia , is reported by Matthew of Paris to have been married to the emperor while on her deathbed.-Background:Manfred was born in Venosa...
, was born here in 1232. After the latter's fall, the Hohenstaufen
Hohenstaufen
The House of Hohenstaufen was a dynasty of German kings in the High Middle Ages, lasting from 1138 to 1254. Three of these kings were also crowned Holy Roman Emperor. In 1194 the Hohenstaufens also became Kings of Sicily...
s were replaced by the Angevines
Capetian House of Anjou
The Capetian House of Anjou, also known as the House of Anjou-Sicily and House of Anjou-Naples, was a royal house and cadet branch of the direct House of Capet. Founded by Charles I of Sicily, a son of Louis VIII of France, the Capetian king first ruled the Kingdom of Sicily during the 13th century...
; 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, under the Aragonese
House of Aragon
The House of Aragon is the name given several royal houses that ruled the County, the Kingdom or the Crown of Aragon.Some historiansGuillermo Fatás y Guillermo Redondo, Alberto Montaner Frutos, Faustino Menéndez Pidal de Navascués...
domination, followed the Gesualdo
Gesualdo
Gesualdo may refer to:*Gesualdo, Campania, a town in Italy*Gesualdo Bufalino , Italian writer*Carlo Gesualdo , Italian late Renaissance composer**Gesualdo: Death for Five Voices, a film about the composer...
family (1561); amongst their member was the famous prince, musician and murderer Carlo Gesualdo.
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
Luigi Tansillo
Luigi Tansillo was an Italian poet of the Petrarchian and Marinist schools. Born in Venosa, he entered the service of Pedro Álvarez de Toledo in 1536 and in 1540 entered the Accademia degli Umidi , afterwards called della Fiorentina.He was associated with the Court of Naples and served as Captain...
(1510-1580) and the jurist Giovanni Battista De Luca
Giovanni Battista de Luca
Giovanni Battista de Luca was an Italian jurist and Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.-Biography:De Luca was born at Venosa, Basilicata, in 1614 of humble parentage. He took up the study of law at Naples in 1635. After graduation, he practiced law as an advocate in Naples for five years...
(1614-1683).
Venosa took part in the revolt of Masaniello
Masaniello
Masaniello was a Neapolitan fisherman, who became leader of the revolt against Spanish Habsburg rule in Naples in 1647.-Name and place of birth:...
in 1647. The Gesualdos were in turn followed by the Ludovisi
Ludovisi
Ludovisi can refer to:*Ludovisi , a noble Italian family*Ludovisi, Lazio, a rione in the City of Rome* Alberico Boncompagni Ludovisi, prince of Venosa and proprietor of Latium wine estate Fiorano...
and the Caracciolo
Caracciolo
Caracciolo is the surname of a famous noble family of southern Italy.Its members include:*Battistello Caracciolo, Italian painter*Carmine Nicolao Caracciolo, Spanish viceroy of Peru*Francesco Caracciolo, Neapolitan admiral and revolutionist...
families.
Home to a traditionally strong republican tradition, Venosa had some role in the peasant revolts and the Carbonari
Carbonari
The Carbonari were groups of secret revolutionary societies founded in early 19th-century Italy. The Italian Carbonari may have further influenced other revolutionary groups in Spain, France, Portugal and possibly Russia. Although their goals often had a patriotic and liberal focus, they lacked a...
movement of the early 19th century.
A true civil war between baronal 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
Sicilian revolution of independence of 1848
The Sicilian revolution of independence of 1848 occurred in a year replete with revolutions and popular revolts. It commenced on 12 January 1848, and therefore was one of the first of the numerous revolutions to occur that year...
).
In 1861 it was occupied by the Briganti
Briganti
Briganti is an Italian surname, associated with the Italian word Brigantaggio...
under the command of Carmine Crocco
Carmine Crocco
Carmine Crocco, known as Donatello was an Italian brigand. Initially a robber in revenge for the abuses suffered, he fought in the service of Giuseppe Garibaldi and, soon after the Italian unification, he formed an army of two thousand men, leading the most cohesive and feared band in southern...
.
Main sights
- The Aragonese castle, built in 1470 by Pirro del Balzo Orsini. It has a square plan with four cylindrical towers. The shining sun, the del Balzo coat of arms, is visible on the western towers. It was turned into a residence by CarloCarlo GesualdoCarlo Gesualdo, known as Gesualdo di Venosa or Gesualdo da Venosa , Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, was an Italian nobleman, lutenist, composer, and murderer....
and Emanuele Gesualdo, who added also an internal loggiaLoggiaLoggia is the name given to an architectural feature, originally of Minoan design. They are often a gallery or corridor at ground level, sometimes higher, on the facade of a building and open to the air on one side, where it is supported by columns or pierced openings in the wall...
, the north-western wing and bastions used as prisons. From 1612 it was the seat of the Accademia dei Rinascenti. It is now home to the National Museum of Venosa, inaugurated in 1991, with ancient Roman and other findings up to the 9th century AD. The entrance is preceded by a fountain conceded by King Charles I of Anjou.
- Many fragments of Roman workmanship are built into the walls of the cathedral, which is due to Pirro del Balzo also (c. 1470).
- The abbey church of SS. Trinità is historically interesting; it was consecrated in 1059 by Pope Nicholas IIPope Nicholas IIPope Nicholas II , born Gérard de Bourgogne, Pope from 1059 to July 1061, was at the time of his election the Bishop of Florence.-Antipope Benedict X:...
and passed into the hands of the Knights of Saint John in the time of Boniface VIII (1295-1303). In the central aisle is the tomb of AlberadaAlberada of BuonalbergoAlberada of Buonalbergo was the first wife of Robert Guiscard, duke of Apulia , whom she married in 1051 or 1052, when he was still just a robber baron in Calabria....
, the first wife of Robert GuiscardRobert GuiscardRobert d'Hauteville, known as Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria, from Latin Viscardus and Old French Viscart, often rendered the Resourceful, the Cunning, the Wily, the Fox, or the Weasel was a Norman adventurer conspicuous in the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily...
and mother of BohemundBohemund I of AntiochBohemond I , Prince of Taranto and Prince of Antioch, was one of the leaders of the First Crusade. The Crusade had no outright military leader, but instead was ruled by a committee of nobles...
. An inscription on the wall commemorates the great Norman brothers William Iron Arm, Drogo, Humfrey and Robert Guiscard. The bones of these brothers rest together in a simple stone sarcophagus opposite the tomb of Alberada. The church also contains some 14th-century frescoes. Behind it is a larger church, which was begun for the Benedictines about 1150, from the designs of a French architect, in imitation of the Cluniac church at Paray-le-MonialParay-le-MonialParay-le-Monial is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Burgundy in eastern France.-History:Paray existed before the monks who gave it its surname of Le Monial, for when Count Lambert of Chalon, together with his wife Adelaide and his friend Mayeul de Cluny, founded there in...
, but never carried beyond the spring of the vaulting. The ancient amphitheatre adjacent furnished the materials for its walls.
- Baroque Church of the Purgatory (or San Filippo Neri)
- The Archaeological Area of Notarchirico, in the communal territory. It covers the Palaeolithic period with eleven layers dating from 600,000 to 300,000 years ago. Remains of ancient wildlife, including extinct species of elephantElephantElephants are large land mammals in two extant genera of the family Elephantidae: Elephas and Loxodonta, with the third genus Mammuthus extinct...
s, bisonBisonMembers of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...
s and rhinocerosRhinocerosRhinoceros , also known as rhino, is a group of five extant species of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. Two of these species are native to Africa and three to southern Asia....
es have been found, as well as a fragment of a femur of Homo erectusHomo erectusHomo erectus is an extinct species of hominid that lived from the end of the Pliocene epoch to the later Pleistocene, about . The species originated in Africa and spread as far as India, China and Java. There is still disagreement on the subject of the classification, ancestry, and progeny of H...
.
- Jewish catacombs with inscriptions in HebrewHebrew languageHebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
, GreekGreek languageGreek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
and LatinLatinLatin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
show the importance of the Jewish population here in the 4th and 5th centuries.
- Remains of the ancient city walls and of an amphitheatre still exist, and a number of inscriptions have been found there.
Notable people
- HoraceHoraceQuintus Horatius Flaccus , known in the English-speaking world as Horace, was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus.-Life:...
(65 BC – 8 BC) - roman poet - Manfred (1232 – 1266) - king of SicilyKingdom of SicilyThe Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy...
- Bartolomeo MarantaBartolomeo MarantaBartolomeo Maranta, also Bartholomaeus Marantha was an Italian physician, botanist, and literary theorist.The Marantaceae, a family of herbaceous perennials related to the gingers, are named after him...
(1500 - 1571) - physician, botanist, and literary theorist - Luigi TansilloLuigi TansilloLuigi Tansillo was an Italian poet of the Petrarchian and Marinist schools. Born in Venosa, he entered the service of Pedro Álvarez de Toledo in 1536 and in 1540 entered the Accademia degli Umidi , afterwards called della Fiorentina.He was associated with the Court of Naples and served as Captain...
(1510 – 1568) - poet - Carlo GesualdoCarlo GesualdoCarlo Gesualdo, known as Gesualdo di Venosa or Gesualdo da Venosa , Prince of Venosa and Count of Conza, was an Italian nobleman, lutenist, composer, and murderer....
(1566 – 1613) - music composer, lutenist and nobleman - Giovanni Battista de LucaGiovanni Battista de LucaGiovanni Battista de Luca was an Italian jurist and Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.-Biography:De Luca was born at Venosa, Basilicata, in 1614 of humble parentage. He took up the study of law at Naples in 1635. After graduation, he practiced law as an advocate in Naples for five years...
(1614 – 1683) - jurist and cardinal - Giacomo Di ChiricoGiacomo Di ChiricoGiacomo Di Chirico was an italian painter. Together with Domenico Morelli and Filippo Palizzi, he was one of the most elite Neapolitan artists of the 19th century...
(1844 – 1883) - painter - Mario de BernardiMario De BernardiMario de Bernardi was an Italian World War I fighter pilot, seaplane air racer of the 1920s, and test pilot of early Italian experimental jets.-Early life:De Bernardi was born on July 1, 1893, in Venosa, Italy...
(1893 – 1959) - colonel and aviator - Cinzia GiorgioCinzia GiorgioCinzia Giorgio is an Italian writer.-Biography:Cinzia Giorgio was born in Venosa, Italy, on April 1975. She graduated in Modern Literature at University of Naples Federico II, her thesis was about the History of Renaissance...
(1975) - writer