What to see in Pisticci, a coastal town in the province of Matera, an itinerary including the main monuments and places of interest, including the Mother Church, San Basilio Castle, the Abbey of the Casale and Palazzo Franchi.
Tourist information
The origins of Pisticci are very ancient, just think that the first inhabitants date back to the 10th century BC.
With the name of Pistoikos it was part of Magna Grecia, in medieval times it became a Norman fief, undergoing frequent incursions by Saracen pirates.
The historic center of Pisticci was built on the hills of Serra Cipolla, San Francesco and Monte Como, which were characterized by the presence of badlands, which is why several landslides occurred over time, including that of 1688 which caused the destruction of much of the country.
The territory of Pisticci includes several hamlets, including Marconia, Tinchi, Casinello and Pisticci Scalo, to which are added Marina di Pisticci and the Porto degli Argonauti, both popular tourist destinations.
What see
Among the main places of interest in the historic center, it is worth visiting the Mother Church, erected in the same place where previously an existing thirteenth-century building was located.
This church is in Renaissance style, with an interior with three naves and a pitched roof.
The side aisles open various chapels and there are Baroque altars where carved and gilded altar frontals are kept, dating largely from the sixteenth century, as well as eighteenth-century paintings, some of which attributed to Domenico Guarino.
The Castle of San Basilio was built by the monks of the congregation during the seventh century, with the function of fortified farmhouse, later assumed the forms of a castle with a central square tower, with a central courtyard surrounded by the main buildings, including the refectory , the kitchen, the dormitory, the chapter house, the library and a small 18th century church.
In the past, the castle was accessed via a drawbridge, later replaced by a masonry bridge.
The Rione Dirupo is made up of single-storey white houses, characterized by a red roof and placed in rows in opposing double rows, sloping from top to bottom.
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The abbey of Santa Maria del Casale is an ancient religious complex, built in about 1087 by the Benedictines over the ruins of a Greek-Byzantine construction, which preserves, inside, a wooden sculpture of 1100 depicting the Madonna.
Pisticci is also known worldwide for the production of Amaro Lucano, obtained from the mixture of various types of medicinal herbs.
