Montescaglioso - Montescaglioso

Montescaglioso is a city of Basilicata known mainly for its Benedictine Abbey.

To know

Montescaglioso is known as the City of Monasteries due to the presence of four Monastic complexes, among which the Abbey of San Michele Arcangelo stands out. Its territory together with that of Matera is part of the Park of the Murgia Materana. In addition, the town organizes a very important Carnival in the region, whose first official certification dates back to 7 February 1638. In February 2012 it was awarded the title "Jewel City of Italy".

In the early Middle Ages it was called Civitas Severiana, as reported by some diplomas, probably because it was built by Alexander Severus. Later it changed into Mons Scabiosus, translatable as "Monte Scabbioso", in reference to the barren and harsh aspect of the territory, or in Mons Caveosus, translatable as "Monte Caveoso", full of caves.

Geographical notes

It borders on the northeast with Matera (18 km), east with Ginosa (TA) (13 km), southwest with Pomarico (17 km) and Millionic (25 km) south with Pisticci (43 km) and southeast with Bernalda (24 km). Distance from regional capital 97 km.

When to go

Climate	gen	Feb	mar	apr	mag	down	Jul	needle	set	Oct	nov	dec
Maximum (° C)	9	10	13	17	22	27	31	31	27	20	15	12
Minimum (° C)	3	3	5	8	12	16	18	19	16	12	8	5

Background

The first settlements in the territory of Montescaglioso date back to the 7th century BC, as evidenced by the important archaeological finds (tombs and Attic and Apulian vases) found on the hills surrounding the Bradano river and precisely in Cozzo Presepe, Difesa S. Biagio, Contrada Pagliarone.

The largest and most important settlement corresponds, however, to the current inhabited center of Montescaglioso where slowly, after the 4th and 3rd centuries BC, the populations previously settled in the other small towns moved.

Having become a Byzantine stronghold, after 1000 it was conquered by the Normans and welcomed an important Benedictine community with the Norman count Rodolfo Maccabeo.

How to orient yourself

The urban layout has a particular butterfly shape in which it is possible to identify three distinct areas that converge on the central square (Piazza Roma) which represents the clear limit between the historic center and the rest of the country.

The first nucleus of the town, the current historic center, is perched on the ravine of Matera and developed around the Abbey. It is characterized by an important heritage of churches and monuments. The new part of the town developed from the "Porta Maggiore" (the gateway to Piazza Roma) along the current Via Garibaldi.

Even if there are no clearly defined neighborhoods, it is possible to identify some distinct urban areas through which it is easy to define the urban development of the city. The observer can still notice two distinct areas of the town, different both from an architectural and urban point of view: the historic center and the new part of the town. The clear boundary line between these two areas can be identified in the areas of via Cavour, via Fiume and via Garibaldi where the old area definitively leaves room for newer structures.

At the moment it is not yet possible to precisely establish the external boundary of the new area, as the town, still in strong expansion, tends to fade from the sports field to that of the "Carrera", to get lost definitively in the S. Agata district. . The "Capo Jazzo" district; formerly the site of intense agricultural activity, in recent years it has been witnessing the rise of a small artisan area that winds up to the Strada Statale 175 of the Bradano Valley, the only connection between the capital of Matera and the thriving agricultural area of ​​the Metaponto area.

How to get

By car

The city is located in a strategic position from a geographical point of view, as it is only 25 km from Metaponto and about 18 km from Matera. It is also easily accessible from both Taranto (via SS 106) which from Bari (SS99 and Sp 380) e Power.

• State Road 175 of the Bradano Valley, crosses the territory of Montescaglioso, and connects Matera to Metaponto
• Strada statale 380 dei Tre Confini, is a stretch of road of about 25 km that connects Matera to Montescaglioso.
• Provincial road Montescaglioso-Ginosa
• Provincial road Montescaglioso-Matera
• Provincial road Montescaglioso-Pomarico

By bus

From Montescaglioso it is also possible to reach Matera, Bernalda, Ginosa via Regional Buses (Fal, Sita).

For some years the Marino Bus company has also covered the Montescaglioso area for some national destinations: Bologna, Parma, Milan.

How to get around

What see

Religious architectures

• Mother church. The mother church is dedicated to St. Peter and St. Paul. No trace remains of the original medieval foundation as it was rebuilt starting in 1776 and rebuilt in the late Baroque style. It is accessed by a large portal and has three naves. It shows a splendid and imposing Baroque altar and a marble balustrade donated by the Chapter of Siena during the Napoleonic era. The other altars are also in polychrome marble. The presbytery dome is decorated with stucco high-reliefs of the four evangelists. It houses four paintings by Mattia Preti in the side aisles: Wedding at Cana, dinner in the Levi house, adoration of the magi, Nativity. The paintings were bought in Naples and donated by the Marquis Ferdinando Cattaneo to the parish church at the beginning of the 19th century. The other preserved canvases are signed by Giovanni Donadio, of school Venetian.

The artistic furnishings of the church include an organ from the late eighteenth century, coming from the female Benedictine monastery, and the choir, from the early nineteenth century, decorated and painted wood depicting the coat of arms of the Municipality. There are also two finely carved polychrome marble inlaid fonts. The baptistery and the basin come from the Benedictine abbey of San Michele Arcangelo. In the sacristy there is a small canvas depicting the Madonna and Child dating back to the fifteenth century. It is the first parish of the Montese city. 

• Benedictine Abbey of San Michele Arcangelo. The abbey, dating back to the 12th century, is dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel. The immense portal of the church and those of the monastery were made by Altobello and Aurelio Persio. The bell tower, of Norman style, has two mullioned windows on each side, and next to it the cylindrical lantern with superimposed lantern. In the pronaos there are remains of the ancient construction. It was transformed starting from 1590: the side aisles became four chapels on each side. It features a cylindrical dome completed in 1650 and barrel ceilings. Seventeenth-century frescoes from the Donadio school are emerging on the walls. The wooden choir and the majestic marble high altar, which once adorned the church, are now located respectively in the church of the Gesù in Lecce and in the cathedral of Matera. 
• Church of San Rocco. The church, dating back to the 16th century, is dedicated to San Rocco. It is located in Piazza Roma, in an area where ancient Greek tombs were found already in the eighteenth century: at that time, in fact, the building was located outside the inhabited nucleus, and it can therefore be assumed that the surrounding land was used as cemeteries. It has a rectangular plan and the facade is crowned by a bell tower. It preserves the statue of San Rocco proclaimed patron of Montescaglioso in 1684. It was built at the beginning of the 16th century and was used for burials. It was damaged by the earthquake of 1827 and later restored with the construction of stone vaults and a new facade. It houses oil paintings of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. 
• Convent of Sant'Agostino. The convent is dedicated to Sant'Agostino and dates back to the 14th century. Three arches allow access to the portico of the church built in the fifteenth century in which a small monastic community had settled. The large complex is divided into three levels: a basement organized as a large cellar for processing grapes and for collecting water in large cisterns, a ground floor where, in addition to the church, the refectory, the kitchen with a large fireplace in the room and the storerooms, and finally on the upper floor there were the library and dormitories. In the church, among the various works of art preserved, a canvas of San Giovanni Battista dated to 1493, an altar in polychrome marble, organ and baroque choir deserve a particular mention. The interior furnishings are in eighteenth-century style. 
• Church of Santa Lucia. Built in a modern style it is the second parish of the city. It has two statues, the Syracusan Virgin on the back and the statue of the Capuchin Pio of Pietrelcina. About 6,000 people from the Montese city belong to the parish. The Capuchin Convent is also part of the Parish of Santa Lucia. 
• Rock churches. The rock settlements in the area within the area deserve particular historical and cultural importance Park of the Murgia Materana. The sanctuary of the Madonna della Murgia represents the most important church of the rock heritage of Montescaglioso. It is characterized by two altars, the greater marked by a large crucifix, the smaller by a beautiful fresco depicting the Virgin and Child. Externally around the area on which the church was built, it is still possible to see the traces of an ancient necropolis dug into the tuff, the early medieval necropolis of Loe.

Numerous crypts, located between Murgia S. Andrea and the rock settlement of Aloe: Scaletta crypt, S. Andrea crypt, Canarino crypt, all dating back to the IX-X century, and the recent crypts of Cozzo S.Angelo (dated between half of the 11th century and the first decades of the 12th century) and of the Paratiello. 

Monuments

• Obelisk of San Rocco. 
• Statue of the Madonna del Cammino on Monte Vetere. 
• Bronze statue in honor of Giuseppe Novello. 
• Bust in honor of Salvo D'Acquisto. 
• Monument to the fallen in Piazza del Popolo. 
• Statue in honor of Padre Pio. 

Military architectures

• Norman castle. Erected by the Maccabees at the end of the 11th century to control Porta Maggiore, the stronghold is organized around a courtyard which is accessed by a portal flanked by two towers of which one still exists. In the east wing the tallest tower is preserved, with a quadrangular plan, made unrecognizable by recent transformations. The church of Santa Caterina is attached to the castle. On the ground floor there are cisterns, deposits, a hanging garden, stables and a porch, currently closed. The building is restored and the vaults of the large rooms on the upper floor are frescoed. In 1857 the arm connecting the building to Porta Maggiore was demolished and the facade on the Corso was rebuilt in neo-medieval style, with battlements and garrite. Between 1960 and 1964, the entire southern wing and one of the two entrance towers were demolished. 
• Norman belt. The Norman walls will remain unchanged until the mid-nineteenth century, when the demolition of the walls will begin. There were six doors. The most important Porta Maggiore was demolished in 1868. 
• Tower. Attached to the castle, it was joined to a large tower in the 14th-15th centuries, still existing and visible only from via Pitagora. To the east, another passage was Porta Schiavoni flanked by a crenellated tower. Overwhelmed by a landslide in 1693, it finally collapsed in 1882. Then there was Porta Carrera, very small and opened by the monks in the abbey's fortifications. 
• Porta S. Angelo. To the north Porta S. Angelo (the only one still existing) which opened onto the square in front of the Abbey. To the west Porta Pescara, from the name of the district below. The last passage was the Portella, near the convent of Sant'Agostino, demolished around 1880. 

Other

• Peasant Civilization Museum. Located in some rooms of the Abbey. 

Events and parties

• Night of the Cucibocca. January 5th. 
• Feast of St. Joseph. March 19. 
• Feast of the Madonna della Nuova. Easter Monday. In ancient times, families on this feast day spent the whole morning "Abbasc A madonna nov" (Down to the Madonna della Nuova). As it was the day after Easter, it marked the end of the holiday season and the start of ordinary activities before the summer harvest. Currently, in the morning there is a long procession that starts from the Church of the Madonna della Nuova (located in the suburbs) and ends at the Church of Santa Lucia.

In the evening after the celebrations with the fireworks and the musical band, the statue of the Madonna is brought back to its Church of belonging. 

• Patronal Feast of San Rocco. 18-19-20 August. It is the main religious holiday. 
• Carnevalone. Carnival. The Carnevalone represents the expression of local identity, with figures that came to us almost intact from the past and also common to other similar manifestations. The Carnival celebrates the propitiatory rites of fertility and the awakening of nature and the traditional figures of the event refer to ancient symbols from the Greek-Roman and medieval world. Over the years, the Carnival procession has evolved, while preserving the memory of well-coded figures that each generation hands over to the next. 
• Slalom of the Rock Churches. September. 
• March and run Monte. September. 
• Pettole Festival. Saturday and Sunday before Christmas. 
• Cavalcade of the Bourbon. First Sunday in August. 

What to do

Shopping

How to have fun

Shows

• Cine-Teatro N.Andrisani. 

Where to eat

Montese cuisine is traditionally simple as in the rest of the region. In fact, large use is made of vegetables and legumes (broad beans, lentils, chickpeas and, in a smaller quantity, of circerchie). The typical peasant dish is a '"cialledd"based on wet bread cut into pieces and seasoned with oil, tomatoes and garlic. Among the typical first courses, we find"the rcchtedd"(the orecchiette) or"the maccarun"(macaroni) and cavatelli made by hand and seasoned with lamb or veal ragout, or the classic tagliatelle with chickpeas, without forgetting the traditional"fafett 'and ciucuer'"(broad beans and chicory). Among the meat dishes we find the gnummuriedd, rolls of entrails (especially lamb) flavored with spices of various kinds, and cooked on the grill or in the oven and finally the pride of the culinary tradition Montese are "l'brasciol d 'cavadd"(horse rolls) meat very rich in iron. The typical sweets, of common tradition also in other areas of Basilicata and Puglia, are the famous pettole,"the cartagghiat"(cartellate),"the apr", is "the struffl", homemade pancakes and sweetened to taste.

Where stay

Safety

How to keep in touch

Around

• Craco, ghost city.

Other projects

• Wikipedia contains an entry concerning Montescaglioso
• Commons contains images or other files on Montescaglioso
• Wikiquote contains quotes from or on Montescaglioso

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