Pisticci

The church stands on the site of an early church which dated from 1212, retaining its bell tower and two of its stained glass windows. In 1542 it was expanded by the addition of two extra aisles, constructed by Pietro and Antonio Laviola, two brothers who were later accused of murder in Mantua.

The church is in the Romanesque-Renaissance style, with an angled roof, and is built in the shape of a Latin cross, with three aisles. On the left and right there are small chapels, under which there are buried local important people. Each chapel has a statue by the sculptor Salvatore Sacquegna. The interior walls of the church are decorated with 18th-century pictures painted by Domenico Guarino, among which Our Lady of Mount Carmel, the Madonna del Pozzo, and the Mysteries of the Rosary are especially notable.

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{{seealso|List of Italian concentration camps}}

From April 1939 and during World War II, Pisticci was the site of a concentration camp considered the first in Fascist Italy.{{cite book |last1=Mortimer |first1=Gavin |title=The SAS in World War II |date=20 June 2015 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9781472808769 |language=English |chapter=6}}{{cite web |title=I CAMPI FASCISTI - Dalle guerre in Africa alla Repubblica di Salò |url=https://campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=79 |website=campifascisti.it |access-date=6 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230929033555/https://campifascisti.it/scheda_campo.php?id_campo=79 |archive-date=29 September 2023 |language=it}}{{cite book |last1=Capogreco |first1=Carlo Spartaco |title=Mussolini's camps: civilian internment in fascist Italy (1940-1943) |date=2019 |publisher=Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group |location=London New York |isbn=978-1138333086 |page=18}} On {{date|14 September 1943}}, the Special Air Service raided the camp and freed approximately 200 prisoners captive there.{{cite news |last1=Wharton |first1=James |title=Daring SAS raid to liberate hundreds from concentration camp revealed after 80 years |url=https://www.forces.net/services/special-forces/sass-most-daring-unknown-concentration-camp-liberation-raid-revealed |access-date=6 January 2024 |work=Forces Network |date=5 January 2024 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240106145751/https://www.forces.net/services/special-forces/sass-most-daring-unknown-concentration-camp-liberation-raid-revealed |archive-date=6 January 2024 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=Damien |title=SAS Forged in Hell |date=26 Oct 2023 |publisher=Quercus |isbn=978-1529413823 |language=English |quote=On 13 September it set forth, steaming west into 'enemy country', making for a concentration camp that was crammed full of prisoners, a number of whom were Polish. Just as in Nazi Germany, a network of such camps had been strung across Fascist Italy, where the 'enemies of the state' were incarcerated amid inhuman conditions. Situated some eighty kilometres inside German-occupied territory and boasting a guard force commanded by an 'Italian Fascist Colonel', the camp at distant Pisticci was the train's planned destination - that was if it made it through. As the war-train had gathered pace and steamed westwards, at one of the key crossroads Major Cary-Elwes stood guard with a patrol of SAS jeeps, determined to hold the junction and adjacent railway crossing against all adversaries. In that he had succeeded, the special train steaming through unmolested. On 14 September it reached the Pisticci camp unscathed. Upon arrival the SAS had struck by surprise, bursting out of the train and overpowering the camp guards, before springing free 180 'prisoners of mixed nationalities'.}}

• Nino Camardo (born 1949), artist

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Category:Cities and towns in Basilicata

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