Pomarico (Greek: Pomerikon) is a small town of 4500 inhabitants in Southern Italy, in the region Basilicata. It is about 30 kilometres (19 mi) from Matera, the capital of the province to which Pomarico belongs. The mother church, whose restoration ended in 1994, has a Baroque facade and contains within it paintings by Pietro Antonio Ferro and Andrea Vaccaro, a wooden statue of San Michele dating back to 1400 and a valuable antifonario the sixteenth century. The edge of town stretches for 500 hectares, the forest of "Manferrara". The Marquess Palace, built in the 18th century, and still standing in the centre of the town. The Main Church dedicated to St. Michael, also built in that period. It has a baroque façade and contains a beautiful wooden statue of St. Michael (1400), as well as paintings of Pietro Antonio Ferro and Andrea Vaccaro. The church of St. Anthony of Padua (18th century). It lies by a former convent, that was transformed into the City Hall. Location: 3 km. by the river Basento around the town of Pomarico (province of Matera) Major periods . 1) The human presence on the plateau of Pomarico Vecchio has testified during the sixth century. aC by furniture and artefacts from a necropolis located at the source S. Giacomo. Giacomo. 2) Starting from fourth century. aC stands on the same plateau inhabited a broad and articulated, with a mighty walls and a regular plant, which will remain alive for a relatively short time, until the second half of the third century. aC . It also relate a necropolis, located on the south-eastern hill. 3) In the Middle Ages (XII-XIV century AD.) Attending resumption of life at the site, witnessed by the discovery of artefacts and furniture to an island grave pit. The excavations conducted in 1989 by the University of Turin, in collaboration with the Archaeological Superintendence of Basilicata, have helped to shed new light on this important site of indigenous ellenizzato internal Lucania. Before then, in fact, were known only some of the walls and a small strip of the necropolis. The new explorations have led to the discovery of the urban regular, set a mesh of orthogonal roads, in which five suspects were isolated. At the center of the plant was also detected a large public structure, known as the "big house", articulated in a series of rooms overlooking a central courtyard. It was designed for the consumption of meals rituals common (hestiatorion), as revealed in particular the discovery of some bothroi with obvious remains of a meal. The function of religion-politics-as well as the complex is confirmed by finding a naiskos, an altar and a stone base for a bronze statue. The most known citizens of Pomarico were Niccolò Fiorentino (lawyer and patriot during the Neapolitan Revolution, 1799) and Francesco Caggiani (awarded with a gold medal during the World War I).
The elementary school in the city is named in honor of Caggiani. Franco Selvaggi, member of the 1982 Italy side that won the World Cup, was from Pomarico.

Pictures  SPERA GERARDO - POMARICO (ITALY)

October 2014 Moon...

“As if you were on fire from within.
The moon lives in the lining of your skin.”

Pablo Neruda

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Sassi di Matera (Italy)

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ETERNAL distances

ETERNE LONTANANZE

Suonano le campane
per qualche santo che non conosco
in queste ore certamente sante,
e il suono arido per la campagna
si sparge senza risonanze
tra la paglia bruciata, tra le piante
che non san fare un bosco,
si perde per le valli malsane,
e con l’umile terra esso si lagna
paziente, delle eterne lontananze.

Carlo Levi settembre 1935

Pictures  SPERA GERARDO - POMARICO (ITALY)

Crickets of the Manferrara forest - Pomarico (MT)

  Pictures by SPERA GERARDO - POMARICO (ITALY)

Dragonfly (Pomarico MT)

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The Sassi of Matera

In the remote southern Italian region of Basilicata is the unique and ancient cave-city of Matera, famous for its sassi (stone houses carved out of the caves and cliffs). Haunting and beautiful, the sassi sprawl below the rim of a yawning ravine like a giant nativity scene. At first sight, the sassi appear as a jumble of faded stone huts - where narrow alleys and stairways lead every which way and streets are sometimes rooftops - but behind the house-like facades are simple caves, inhabited since Paleolithic times. 

The sassi of Matera tell a tale of poverty, hardship and struggle. The city’s history is best immortalised in writer Carlo Levi’s revealing book, Christ stopped at Eboli (published in 1945) - a title suggesting Basilicata was beyond the hand of God, a place where pagan magic still existed and thrived. Inside the cave dwellings, large families lived alongside their livestock and, even as late as the 1950s, without electricity, running water or sewage. In such unhygienic conditions, disease was rife, especially malaria. Instead of sweets or money, children begged for quinine. 

Reacting to outrage from the general public over the revelations of Levi’s book, the government forcibly relocated the inhabitants of the caves into modern housing in the ‘new town’ on top of the cliff. Ironically, Italy’s shame drew curious visitors to the sassi, especially after the area was declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1993. Matera’s fame has since increased, attracting a trickle of inhabitants back into the caves. Today, many buildings in the sassi are crumbling and abandoned but a growing number have been restored and transformed into cosy abodes, restaurants and swish cave-hotels. For a glimpse into the past, the Casa Grotta di Vico Solitario (off Via Bruno Buozzi) gives an insight into cave furnishings and living conditions of the 1950s. 

Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ 

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