Garaguso 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 ...

, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata.

Geography

It is an agricultural center in the upper valley of the

Cavone River The Cavone (in its upper course: ''Salandrella'') is a river in the Basilicata region of southern Italy. It is long, and has a drainage basin of . Its source is west of Accettura in the province of Matera near the border with the province of P ...

. The town is situated on a hill and is bordered to the north by the town of

Grassano Grassano is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Matera, in the southern Italian region of Basilicata. It is located between the Bradano and Basento rivers at an elevation ranging from about above sea level. The town proper is from Matera a ...

, to the east by

Salandra Salandra ( Lucano: ; ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Matera, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 ...

, to the south by

San Mauro Forte San Mauro Forte is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Matera, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. History The area was established in the sixth century. It was probably part of Magna Graecia. Geography The town is on a hill, abo ...

, and west with

Oliveto Lucano Oliveto Lucano is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Matera, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata it, Lucano (man) it, Lucana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , dem ...

and Calciano.

History

The results of archaeological investigations indicate that the area was inhabited since prehistoric times. The temple of Garaguso, Heroon is of note, revealing a strong Greek presence in the area. In 1060, Garaguso was included in the jurisdiction of the

Bishop of Tricarico The Italian Catholic Diocese of Tricarico ( la, Dioecesis Tricaricensis) is in Basilicata. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Potenza-Muro Lucano-Marsico Nuovo.Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age ( Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostl ...

to the fifth century BC. The museum contains marble dating from the first half of the fifth century BC: a model of the Heroon temple and a statue of a goddess sitting. In the feudal period, Garaguso belonged to the Sanseverinos and in turn the Salandra family until 1813. The 1694 earthquake destroyed the original settlement further down the hill and was rebuilt by the Revettera di Salandra family in the XVIII century. A hunting lodge was built and is now called the Palace. The building is accessed by a path carved into the rock It has a central courtyard where there was also the family chapel that later enlarged to become the main church, dedicated to St. Nicholas of Myra (Bari). This parish church of Garguso dates to the eighteenth-century and has a clay sculpture of the fifteenth century depicting the Madonna della Puglia and a canvas painted in 1761 by Deodato da Tolve.

References

Cities and towns in Basilicata {{Basilicata-geo-stub