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It used to be situated on a hill overlooking the present industrial area of ‘Tito Scalo’. This site, called ‘Tito Vecchio’ (Old Tito) was lived in at the time of the Second Punic War (III-II centuries B.C.), when the Roman Consul Tito Sempronio Gracco (from whom the name probably comes) was often in this area. Later he was betrayed by Flavio Lucano, who had become an ally of the Carthaginians: according to Tito Livio, he joined Hannibal and his Lieutenant Magone in the Battle of the Campi Veteres, nearby. When the old village was destroyed, its inhabitants moved to a rock overlooking the valley, which has the shape of an amphitheatre closing around the stream of Tito. The new settlement grew considerably after the destruction of the old Satriano (1420-1430), sheltering some of its refugees.

The inhabitants of Tito took part to the Risings in 1799, with a heavy toll in human lives. The heroine of these Rising was Francesca Cafarelli de Carolis, who paid with the lives of her whole family her devotion to the ideals of freedom from the Neapolitan Republic. On 27th May 1799 she was executed with the other rebellious on the ‘Piazza del Seggio’ (Seat Square) by a group of Sanfedisti following the Cardinal Ruffo. The writer Carlo Alianello brings out in his novel ‘The Standard-bearer’ the roles and the characters of these Risings. In ‘Piazza del Seggio’ there is a monumental stone fountain of the XVIII century.

The Town Hall towers above the Square with a beautiful arch of the XV century. In the high part of the village there is the Franciscan Convent (1514), where several masterpieces are kept.

In the Church of S. Antonio, attached to the Convent, there is a set of paintings by Girolamo Stabile and a high altar made of carved panels (I half of the XVI century), some canvases by G. Di Gregorio (Pietrafesa) and Antonio Stabile (XVII century). The cloister of this Convent was frescoed by Pietrafesa (1606) with the stories of S. Antonio. Out of the village (Acqua Bianca locality) there are some springs of sulphureous waters.

Tito is one of the places, with Potenza, Picerno, Pignola and Trecchina, where Gaul-Italian is spoken; probably because of migrations (XIII century) of populations coming from the North of Italy (Monferrato), that merged together with the local community (G. Rohlfs).

85050 - Via Municipio, 1
Tel. 0971 796211 - Fax 0971 794489
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.comune.tito.pz.it

Via Nuvolese, 12
85050 - Tito (PZ)

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