| Venous | ||
 | ||
| State | Italy | |
|---|---|---|
| Region | Basilicata | |
| Altitude | 415 m a.s.l. | |
| Surface | 170.39 km² | |
| Inhabitants | 11.863 (2015) | |
| Name inhabitants | Venosini | |
| Prefix tel | 39 0972 | |
| POSTAL CODE | 85029 | |
| Time zone | UTC 1 | |
| Patron | San Rocco | |
Position
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| Tourism site | ||
| Institutional website | ||
Venous is a city in the region of Vulture in Basilicata.
To know
Picturesque town, not surprisingly included in the list of the most beautiful villages in Italy, Venosa was baptized by the Romans Venusia in honor of the goddess of love. It has a long and interesting history as proven by its small historic center and by the surrounding archaeological sites including that of Notarchirico where the femur of a specimen of Homo erectus was found, which lived about 300,000 years ago.
Venosa is known for being the birthplace of the Latin poet Horace of which there is the alleged house but it has also been the home of characters with restless lives such as the prince and composer of madrigals Carlo Gesualdo, guilty of a ferocious passionate crime that has inspired more than one director.
Venosa was chosen to be the backdrop for some films including "Gesualdo - Morte per cinque voce" (Tod für fünf Stimmen), a 1995 television film directed by Werner Herzog that did not have a great success but certainly interesting like all niche productions. Another documentary film not aimed at the general public to which Venosa is the background is "Vultour, The traces of the sacred territory and identity" of 2008 and directed by Fulvio Wetzl. The documentary describes a journey through the historic towns of the Vulture and its natural beauties such as the twin lakes of Monticchio. Best known, perhaps, is the television miniseries The general of the brigands aired for the first time on Rai in 2012 and centered on the events of Carmine Crocco, a brigand born in the nearby town of Rionero in Vulture.
Despite the positive publicity and recognition in the tourism field, Venosa is far from being a destination for mass tourism. If at the time of the Romans it was an important station on the Via Appia, the regina viarum, the town remains today rather far from the main traffic arteries of southern Italy. Many visitors limit themselves to a stroll downtown before heading to more famous places like Matera and the seaside resorts of the Puglia and not many stay overnight. However, Venosa has a fair number of loyal international tourists, coming from central and northern Europe, generally elderly and perhaps for this reason more interested in rural places that have partly preserved their genuine character.
Venosa today is far from the splendor achieved in the imperial age; it is, in every sense, a "rustic" village whose economy is still based on agriculture. Important in this field are the extensive vineyards from which Aglianico del Vulture is obtained, a famous red wine often compared (albeit improperly) to Piedmontese Barolo.
How to orient yourself
Venosa: full screen map.How to get
By plane
- Bari Karol Wojtyla International Airport. It is about 120 km from Venosa
- Naples International Airport "Capodichino". It is about 180 km from Venosa
By car
If you are coming from north-eastern Italy you will have to get on the Adriatic A14 motorway and exit at the Foggia junction onto the state road 655 (Bradanica) from Foggia to Matera.
If you come from places in north-western Italy or Tuscany or Lazio you will have to follow the Autostrada del Sole (A1) leaving it at the Caserta junction to get onto the A16 (Naples - Canosa) and exit at the Candela junction where you will take the road state road 655 (Bradanica) from Foggia to Matera.
Free public parking near the historic center
On the train
The Venosa-Maschito station was closed in 2011 and the regional trains that stopped there were replaced with private scheduled buses.
By bus
Liscio bus lines, Moretti bus lines, Cotrab, Interpuglia Bus, Manieri Enrico Bus Manieri, Marino autolinee, Mavibus, Sita.
How to get around
What see
- 1 Aragonese castle (Pirro del Balzo Castle).
- National Archaeological Museum of Venosa. it is set up inside the Aragonese castle. Inaugurated in 1991, it houses the finds from the archaeological areas of Notarchirico and ancient Venusia. Since December 2014 the museum has been managed by the Basilicata museum complex. The exhibition area is divided into five sections concerning the pre-Roman period, the Romanization phase, the period from the end of the Republican age to the Augustan age, the imperial age and the late imperial period up to the 9th century.
- 2 Town Hall (Calvini Palace). Built in the seventeenth century, it was later modified and restored in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Inside there is a marble table called "I Fasti Municipali", on which the names of Roman magistrates from 34 to 28 BC are engraved. The marble copy of the so-called Venosian "municipal glories", that is, from the list of local magistrates of the time of Augustus (from 34 to 28 BC). In fact, it was Roman custom to catalog the names of the characters with, alongside, the indication of the most important events of the year. In the Town Hall Library is exhibited the lead urn, which would contain the ashes of the Roman consul Marco Claudio Marcello, found in the second half of the 1800s, near via Melfi in a ruin called "tomb of Marcello" (ie tomb of consul who in 208 BC at the time of the Second Punic War lost his life in an ambush).
- Palazzo del Balì.
- Dardes Palace. Its construction dates back to the eighteenth century. The "telamon" was found here, (now preserved in the National Museum of Venosa), that is, the architectural element in a male human figure in the act of supporting an architrave. It is precisely the discovery of the "telamon", one of the two ornaments (the other has not yet been found) placed in ancient Roman times, probably at the two ends of the entrance to the theaters, which suggests in Venosa the existence of a theater . The entrance is decorated with an ecclesiastical coat of arms.
- House of Horace.
- Co-cathedral of Sant'Andrea.
- 3 Church of the Purgatory.
- 4 Fountain of the Lion.
- 5 Fountain of San Marco.
- 6 Complex of the Holy Trinity, Strada ofantina or provincial road 1.
- Archaeological park (Near the abbey of the Holy Trinity). The baths, the domus, the SS. Trinità and the amphitheater. THE AMPHITHEATER: The phase of its first construction dates back to the first century. d. C .; while, the second to the second century. d. C. It has the shape of an ellipse, only partially excavated, formed by an outer pillar ring and a central body with 3 levels, occupied by the tiers where the spectators sat. The function of these steps was to differentiate the spectators according to the social class to which they belonged (even if it is thought that the main user of the gladiator shows was above all the rural population). At the center of the arena there were underground passages that served as service areas. By virtue of some findings (a small treasure of about 200 coins, a Hebrew inscription on a tomb and some sepulchers, it is thought that perhaps, for a certain period, part of the amphitheater was destined for a Jewish cemetery.
- 7 Jewish catacombs of Venosa, Strada ofantina.
- 8 Notarchirico Archaeological Park (9 Km from the city in Notarchirico), ☎ 39 0972 36095.
Free entry. 
Guided tours by appointment. Located one of the most important European archaeological areas referable to a Paleolithic settlement.
Free entry. 
Guided tours by appointment. Located one of the most important European archaeological areas referable to a Paleolithic settlement.- The remains of a paleosol are visible, to be connected with an ancient lake basin and with the hunting activities that took place along the banks. In this site there is a stratigraphic superposition with eleven levels dating back between 600,000 and 300,000 years ago.
Events and parties
- Patronal Feast of San Rocco. August 16.
What to do
- 1 [link not working]Le Onde Water Park, Street Of Waves (Free shuttle service from the center), ☎ 39 972 32582. full holiday 10 €, full weekday 8 €. Those who buy tickets on the site will have priority at the entrance bypassing the queues. Open only in the summer months. Pools, slides, entertainment, foam parties.
- 2 Wood of Montalbo. Oak and oak forest in the Montalbo district where you can stroll and enjoy the view of Venosa from above
Shopping
- , Via Appia 86, ☎ 39 0972 36702. Wed-Fri 10: 00-12: 00, 15: 30-17: 00. Winery established by winemakers from the municipality of Venosa, the largest producer of Aglianico grapes. They will let you taste all the varieties of Aglianico wine, from white to red and from rosé to champagne. According to connoisseurs, the best is "Gesualdo", a red with a dry and velvety flavor.
How to have fun
Where to eat
Moderate prices
- Mojito Bistro, Piazza Umberto I, 34, ☎ 39 320 451 6440. A modest pub-style venue just below the castle
Average prices
Where stay
Average prices
- 1 Horace Hotel, Via Vittorio Emanuele II, ☎ 39 0972 31135.
- 2 Venusia Hotel, Via Accademia dei Rinascenti 106.
- 3 [link not working]Ca 'del Borgo, Vico Marcello, 4 (Old Town), ☎ 39 338 383 2175. Rooms for rent with private bathroom or shower and shared kitchen equipped with everything you need for a breakfast. Free coffee with pods, tea, herbal teas and biscuits are available to guests. All rooms are equipped with flat screen TV, desk, electric kettle and mini fridge. Free Wifi throughout the hotel.
- Carpe Diem farmhouse. 6-room farmhouse with swimming pool and restaurant. Organize excursions on horseback in the plain of Monte Vulture
