Potenza

Potenza occupies a high ridge in the mountains of Basilicata, above the valley of the Basento. Its old town grew around the cathedral and the fortifications of a place long important to the roads through southern Italy. Wars, fires and earthquakes repeatedly altered its buildings, but the hilltop settlement remained a centre for the surrounding mountain countryside and the seat of a bishop.

In 1694 a violent earthquake devastated Potenza, reducing much of the town to ruins. Its recovery was followed by a change in standing during the French occupation of the Kingdom of Naples: in 1806 Potenza became the provincial capital of Basilicata in place of Matera. The mountain town thus gained a new administrative role after generations of difficult reconstruction.