Rionero in Vulture .

RAI00406

Note

Rionero in Vulture .

Collection title

Geo & Geo

RAI00406

Source

RAI (IT)

First broadcast date

02/14/2008

Production year

2008

Abstract

The city Rionero in Vulture, in the province of Potenza, Basilicata, has a rich medieval heritage that dates back to the arrival of the Normans in southern Italy in the eleventh century. The city was abandoned in 1330 because of the attractiveness of Atella, a nearby town. A century later, in the sixteenth century , it had been repopulated by the Albanians of Greek Orthodox rite. In the eighteenth century, many noble residences were built. Views of streets in the downtown Rionero in Vulture, the church of S. Antonio Abate was the meeting place between the leaders of the French and Spanish armies in 1502 in order to share the kingdom of Naples. View of the church of San Marco Evangelista; architectural details. Public library and museum of peasant civilization.

Type

video

Production companies

RAI - Own production

Broadcaster

RAI - RAI Tre

Audiovisual form

Documentary

Primary theme

Landscapes and environment

Secondary themes

Historical heritages / Latin and oriental christendom

Credits / Cast

Vergine Emmanuel - Author of original work
Prezioso Francesco - Author of original work
Spanu Sergio - Author of original work

Period of events

From 1000 to 1500

Map locations

Italy - South Italy - Rionero in Vulture

Original language

Italian

Media running time

11m39

Context

Rionero in Vulture

Cyril Isnart

This short television film about a small town in the Lucania region, Rionero in Vulture (13,494 inhabitants in 2011), is typical of a series called Geo e Geo on the Italian culture channel Rai3 – descriptive, geographical documentaries aimed at tourism. Using historical, geographical and heritage data from the region, the commentary describes the obscure origins of the town, the development of the historic centre, the arrival of people from other countries (Albanians and Greeks), the struggle between Catholics and Orthodox Christians so typical of a region on the edges of the Byzantine world, the landscape of forests and lakes formed in ancient volcanic craters, intellectual figures like Guistino Fortunato (1848-1932, a meridionalisti or southernist who bequeathed his library to the city) and last but not least the wine heritage, with its local appellation Aglianico del Vulture.

One of the film's constant themes is the region's ethnic, religious and cultural diversity. The commentary tries to point this up by describing the interaction between the local culture and communities of different origins over the course of history – for example changing the name of the local wine from ellenico to aglianico because of the pronunciation of the Spanish occupiers during the modern period, or the friction between the Catholic and the Orthodox monks in the sanctuary of St. Michael , restored, enlarged and transformed into a monastic centre by Orthodox monks after a series of appearances by the Archangel.

A vast fresco of history and tourism, the film is an example of quite a common television genre which highlights peripheral regions outside the popular tourist routes, while playing on the original features of southern Italy's cultural situation where several Mediterranean religious and ethnic groups live together while never going into the reality of the social issues inherent in the multi-cultural societies of these regions.

Collectif, Patrimonio artistico di Rionero in Vulture, Litostampa Ottaviano, 2007.

Lopreno D. 1992, La question Nord-Sud en Italie. Histoire du Mezzogiorno de l'unité italienne, 1861, à nos jours, Berne-Francfort-s. Main-Paris, P. Lang.

Margarito M.G. 2000, L’Italie en stéréotypes. Analyse de textes touristiques. Paris, L’Harmattan.

Maria Luisa Nava, Bruno d'Agostino, Michel Gras, et al. 1998, Trésors d'Italie du Sud. Grecs et indigènes en Basilicate, Genève-Milano, Skira.