POTENZA, a city of Italy, the chief town of Potenza (Basilicata), lies in the heart of the country, on an isolated hill in the valley of the Basento or Busento (Casuentus or Masuentum), 69 miles by rail east of Salerno and 51 westnorth-west of Metapontum, where the Basento reaches the Gulf of Taranto and the railway joins the line between Taranto and Reggio. It is much exposed to stormy winds, and has in general a far more northern climate than its astronomical position (40° 40' N. lat.) implies. Along with Marsico Nuovo the city forms an episcopal diocese dependent on Acerenza, and under the Bourbon Government it was considered a fortified place of the fourth class. The buildings of chief note are the cathedral, the seminary, and the hospital of San Carlo (1869). The population was 18,295 in 1871 and 16,968 in 1881 (commune, 20,281)....
The hill on which Potenza now stands was originally occupied only by the citadel of the ancient Potentia, which spread out in the valley below, and must have been, to judge by its numerous inscriptions, a flourishing municipium during the Roman empire. The old town was destroyed by Frederick II., and again by earthquake in 1273; the erection of the new town on the hill probably dates from this latter event. By the Angevines Potenza was made a domain of the San Severino family; in the beginning of the 15th century it was held by Francesco Sforza, and in 1435 it passed to the Guevara family; the Loifredi, who succeeded by marriage, continued in possession till the abolition of the great fiefs. In 1694 there was a severe earthquake; and the more terrible earthquake which on 16th and 17th December 1857 passed through southern Italy, and in the Basilicata alone killed 32,475 persons, proved particularly disastrous at Potenza, laying the greater part of the city in ruins.
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