Tricarico ( nap, label= Lucano, Trëcàrëchë ; ) is a town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' in the

province of Matera The province of Matera ( it, Provincia di Matera; Materano: ) is a province in the Basilicata region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Matera. It has an area of and a total population of 201,133; the city Matera has a population of 61,204. Th ...

Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...

, southern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. It is home to one of the best preserved medieval historical centres in

Lucania Lucania was a historical region of Southern Italy. It was the land of the Lucani, an Oscan people. It extended from the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Gulf of Taranto. It bordered with Samnium and Campania in the north, Apulia in the east, and Bruttiu ...

Tricarico Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta

Etymology

The origin of the name Tricarico is unknown. It might derive from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''treis'' ("three") and ''cara'' (''head''/''skull'' in Hellenistic-era Greek: η κάρα, τό κάρα, η κάρη). That is "''having three heads''". According to a slightly different hypothesis, it could have originally been ''Triacricon'', deriving from the

words '' tria''/''treis'' and ''acron''/''acra'', which during Antiquity and Early Middle Ages meant both an "apex/summit", and a "citadel", with ''Triacricon'' thus meaning a city made by connecting "''three citadels''". These three ''acra''/citadels were no other than the site of the 9th c

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

castle of ''Saracena'' in the north, the site of a 9th-10th c

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

''Rocca fortificata'' in the south, improved during the 11th-12th c by the

Normans The Normans ( Norman: ''Normaunds''; french: Normands; la, Nortmanni/Normanni) were a population arising in the medieval Duchy of Normandy from the intermingling between Norse Viking settlers and indigenous West Franks and Gallo-Romans. ...

, and then, during the 13th c, by the

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynas ...

, and also the site of the 14th c ''Palazzo Ducale'' in the middle. Probably the three sites were simultaneously fortified even before the successive occupations. Tricarico 1605

History

Although of ancient origin, the first news documented about the town dates to 849, when it was a Lombard county included in the

gastaldate A gastald (Latin ''gastaldus'' or ''castaldus''; Italian ''gastaldo'' or ''guastaldo'') was a Lombard official in charge of some portion of the royal demesne (a gastaldate, ''gastaldia'' or ''castaldia'') with civil, martial, and judicial powers ...

Salerno Salerno (, , ; nap, label= Salernitano, Saliernë, ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' in Campania (southwestern Italy) and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after ...

. Later (9th century - late 10th century) it was an

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

ic stronghold. The terrace gardens, of Arabic origin, are still in use today. In 968 Tricarico was conquered by the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

, and then, in 1048, it became a Norman fortified town. In the 15th century, there was a

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish community.

Main sights

The roads and alleys of the historical center reflect the Arabic quarters of the Ràbata and the Saracena. Sights in the town include: *Cathedral of the ''Assunta'', built by

Robert Guiscard Robert Guiscard (; Modern ; – 17 July 1085) was a Norman adventurer remembered for the conquest of southern Italy and Sicily. Robert was born into the Hauteville family in Normandy, went on to become count and then duke of Apulia and Calab ...

. Here, in 1383,

Louis I of Anjou Louis I, Duke of Anjou (23 July 1339 – 20 September 1384) was a French prince, the second son of John II of France and Bonne of Bohemia. His career was markedly unsuccessful. Born at the Château de Vincennes, Louis was the first of the Ang ...

was crowned king of Naples. *Norman tower, with a height of . *Towers of Ràbata and Saracena. *Ducal Palace, now home to the archaeological museum *Sanctuary of Madonna di Fonti The archaeological area of Civita is situated outside the city. It includes a

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

fortified center that extends for approximately and consists of stone buildings with squared blocks, fortified with monumental doors. In the interior, some rooms have mosaic pavements over 2,500 years old. Also present is the ''Cerra del Cedro'' archaeological site, inhabited from as early as the 6th century to the 3rd century BC.

References

{{authority control Cities and towns in Basilicata