PISTICCI Pisticci is a picturesque coastal village beloning to the province of Matera. It has 17.828 inhabitants and is situated 364 metres over the sealevel. This is a village with a long history situated in the heart of Magna Graecia.
The village boosted during the Norman period. In 1688 the area surrounding the castle was destroyed by a landslide which caused more than 400 deaths - many inhabitants build small houses near the ravin - which can still be seen. The village has a lot of ancient churches. In the Torrevecchia area, you can find the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, built in 1542 on the ruins of an even more ancient church. Around the church, the remains of the ancient cylindrical Bruni tower are still visible. Also well worth a visit is the Church of Santa Maria del Casale or Church of Saint Anthony, which has 17th- and 18th-century frescoes and a whole number of paintings.
Just outside the town, in the San Basilio area, there is an imposing fortified construction, originally built by Ruggero the Norman as a castle, before being transformed in 1133 into an abbey by a group of Basilian monks.