A Few Days in Potenza

We have enjoyed a wonderful visit in the historic city of Potenza!  It rained the first couple of days, which we didn’t mind because we are staying in a cozy little apartment across a small stone piazza from the Chiesa (church) of San Michele de Arcangelo.  We lived near here for 3 months in 2022, and it feels like home.  Below is Charlie outside our apartment:

I wandered across the piazza into the Chiesa di San Michele, and was treated to traditional live organ music and classic religious art:

Today the sun came out and it was a gorgeous day. In the afternoon we went for a long wandering walk around the eastern part of the city, visiting places that were both known and new to us. Below is a picture of Charlie looking stylish on Via Pretoria, the pedestrian walking street in the centro storico (no cars).  We enjoy strolling along with the local people who flock here in lively crowds, especially in the evening, to “swim laps”.

Below is one of the historic gates of the city: it’s very old, centuries!  (we don’t know the original date).  This gate was nearly destroyed in the 1980 M-6.9 Irpinia earthquake, which devastated much of the Basilicata region and damaged many historic buildings in Potenza. The gate was subsequently rebuilt and restored, as seen below:

This is a view overlooking the Universita degli Studi della Basilicata (“Unibas”), the academic home of our friend and colleague Sergio Longhitano.  Here we are looking about south, and the east end of the old city is on the ridge at the right.

Outside the Geosciences department at Unibas, there is a new display of geo-educational poster boards.  This one caught my eye because it highlights extension and normal faults superimposed on the Apennine thrust belt, and an outcrop!

Here we see a historic stone tower that was built circa 700 to 900 A.D. (accounts vary). The city of Potenza is in the process of restoring the tower within a beautiful plaza, so we could not go there today, but maybe in a future visit:

Many of the cars here are very small, and electric! The traditional-style cobble paving stones and old stone buildings provide a fun backdrop to this modern compact form of transportation. There are also many public-transit options (bus and train).

Finally, we introduce you to the revered and beloved patron saint of Potenza, San Gerardo (below). According to Wikipedia, Gerardo was the bishop of Potenza in the early 12th century and led the church for 8 years. One year after his death in 1120, Pope Callistus II proclaimed him to be a saint, and immediately the people of Potenza began to venerate him. There is a colorful legend that Gerardo performed a miracle by driving off an army of invading Turks, and the event is celebrated to this day in a rowdy long weekend of parades, music, and performances during which the city becomes filled to bursting with people from all over the region. We were lucky to be here for this event in 2022, it was amazing.  If interested, you can scroll down to my post from June 4, 2022, to see some images from the Festival of San Gerardo that year.

Tomorrow we will leave Potenza and travel by train to Reggio Calabria, where we will move into our apartment and get ready to start field work with Sergio and Domenico.  To be continued …