Venosa

The nice roads, squares, little roads and alleys all paved in the clear local limestone, bordered by never to high buildings, always decorous and often elegant, with pleasant stone architectural details as decorated portals, grotesque masks, window cornices, make of Venosa a very civilizes urban environment very enjoyable to wander in.
At 415m. a.s.l., to the northern limit of Basilicata near the boundary of Puglia, the town is surrounded by a green country and woods.
Of very ancient origins - testimonies of the palaeolithic era can be found in the nearby archaeological site of Notarchico -, it was the Roman colony of Venusia, founded in 291 b.C., when Romans rescued it from Sannites. Of the Roman phase as well there are many testimonies, among which a thermal complex and an amphitheatre, both in the archaeological Park and in the Museum, hosted by in Pirro del Balzo Castle.To visit: the suggestive Juice catacombs, recently re-opened after a long work of strengthening and restoration; the Incompiuta, one of Norman art masterworks, a church that was begun to build between XI and XII century and never finished, part of SS. Trinity complex; the Aragonese Castle, built in 1470 on the site where the ancient cathedral once rose, on orders of duke Pirro del Balzo. The castle has square plan with cylindrical towers at the corners and is surrounded by a moat.
Among the many possible etymologies of the name Venosa (from Venus, or from "vena", in Italian spring of water, because of the many springs in the area...), there is also the hypothesis it may come from wine, as the region is renowned for the exquisite wines, white ones, roseate and, possibly the best known, the red Aglianico of the Vulture, all to taste and buy in many wine cellars nearby.
In Venosa in 54 b.C. Horatius was born, the famous Latin poet, and every year in May an important international cultural event is held here: the "Certamen Horatianum".