Palazzo San Gervasio

Palazzo San Gervasio
Country	Italy
region	Basilicata
province	Potenza  (PZ)
Coordinates	40 ° 56 ′  N , 15 ° 59 ′  E Coordinates: 40 ° 56 ′ 0 ″  N , 15 ° 59 ′ 0 ″  E
height	483  m slm
surface	62 km²
Residents	4,690 (Dec 31, 2019)
Population density	76 inhabitants / km²
Post Code	85026
prefix	0972
ISTAT number	076057
Popular name	Palazzesi
Patron saint	Anthony of Padua
Website	Palazzo San Gervasio

Palazzo San Gervasio is a small town and municipality with 4690 inhabitants (as of December 31, 2019) in the southern Italian province of Potenza in Basilicata . The neighboring communities are Acerenza , Banzi , Forenza , Genzano di Lucania , Maschito , Venosa and Spinazzola ( BA ). Vines for the red wine Aglianico del Vulture are grown in Palazzo San Gervasio .

history

At the beginning of the 11th century, a Norman - Staufer fort, the Palatium Regium , from which the place got its name, was built on the eastern edge of today's municipality . The first dwellings around the defense structure were built for the members of the castle crew. Inside these first houses a small church was built, dedicated to Saints San Gervasio e Protasio (hence the name Palazzo San Gervasio). The place was given to the monastery of the Holy Trinity in Venosa by the son of the Norman king Robert Guiskard , Duke Roger .

The French mercenary leader Charles I of Anjou , who on behalf of the Pope removed the last remnants of the Hohenstaufen rule in southern Italy and was enfeoffed with the Kingdom of Sicily, used Palazzo San Gervasio as the main defense post for the entire Basilicata shortly after he came to power in 1267, its local custodian was Nicola Frezzano da Venosa. A little later, a horse breeding facility, which became famous later, was established here.

In the 16th century, King Ferdinand the Catholic ceded the possession of Palazzo San Gervasio to Nicola Maria Caracciolo , Duke of Castellaneta . When it was invented in 1531, the fort was described as in good condition, the neighboring village then had 90 hearth fires (families).

The population (as of May 2007) consists of 2530 men and 2549 women. A total of 1856 families live there.

Fort

The fort has a regular rectangular floor plan and is considered one of the hunting fort of the Staufer Emperor Friedrich II . The use of regular cuboids in the exterior as well as the window shapes, which also include a round oculus , and which apparently originate from the Hohenstaufen construction period, are striking .

Library

Giuseppe Mucciante, one of the many who emigrated to America from Palazzo San Gervasio, left behind a sum of one million dollars after his death in 1978 to build a new library and an art gallery in the town (the centuries-old library holdings in the town were moved to Matera in 1939 been). Today's Joseph and Mary Agostine Memorial Library has now been set up on Vico Veglia No. 1 in restored premises.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Statistiche demografiche ISTAT. Monthly population statistics of the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica , as of December 31 of 2019.