Population: 12,189 (2003)
Official site: Venosa
Wikipedia: Venosa
Map: MapQuest

Situated at the bottom of a prehistoric lake, Venosa has a long history: the Samnites organized it as a city-state: the Romans occupied it in 291 and, to bend local resistance turned it into a colony, moving 20,000 people there.  In that period, its importance grew considerably, as it lay on the original route of the Via Appia, which linked Campania with Puglia.

Venosa is the birthplace of the poet Horace who was born in 65 BC.  In the first centuries of the Christian era a strong Jewish community settled here, concentratd in its own district.  When the Emperor Trajan moved the Via Appia further up north, Venosa suffered severe economic consequences from which it never really recovered.  During the Barbarian invasions, matters even got worse.

With its conquest by the Normans, in 1024 AD, Venosa found a new role as part of the defenisve curve of their domains, especially under Frederick II, who made it a crown property.  Later it came under control of the Orsini family, but control passed once again when Venosa, as part of the dowry of Donata Orsini when she married in 1443 AD, it came under the control of Pirro del Balzo, who had a castle and cathedral built there. 

In the 16th century, the Gesauldos, princes of Venosa, and their court turned the town into a brilliant centre of intellectual and artistic activity.   The prince of Venosa was Carlo Gesualdo (1560-1613), a controversial figure, who was, nonetheles, an exceptional musician, one of the best of his times.  His town then shared the vicissitudes of the Kingdom of Naples and was involved in the Carbonari uprising and the peasant revolts of the 19th century. 

The castle fronting Piazza Umberto I was built in 1470 on the site of an early cathedral.  It has a square plan with cylindrical corner towers and is surrounded by a large moat.  Inside it houses the Civic Library and the National Archaeological Museum, with collections of pottery, coins, funerary objects, masaics, and wall paintings dating from paleolithic times to the time of the Normans.  The section devoted to the eary Christian period conserves a cross-relic of the 8th-9th century AD and two pluteus by Maestro Palmerio, among many other important findings.

In addition to the museum, the major memories of the prosperity enjoyed in the Roman period can be seen in the Archeological park (via Ofantina provincial road), which lies outside the town, around the abbey of the Trinità.  The park encompasses an amphitehatre, spa, a house of the 2nd century B.C., a presidential complex and the remians of the early Christian religious centre, with the first cathedral.  Nearby are Jewish and Christian catacombs.  The most striking monument is the abbey of the Trinità, which stood in early Christian times on the site of a pagan temple and was later extended by the Benedictines.

by Jesse Andrews, October 12th, 2005