S. Maria d’Anglona. The Medieval Fortified Settlement and the Cathedral

The last major phase of occupation on the hill of Anglona is associated with the establishment of a substantial settlement, inhabited during the central centuries of the Middle Ages and later abandoned around the 15th–16th century AD. The most remarkable evidence relates to the medieval cathedral complex, which includes the imposing church itself and its annexes, as well as several structural remains belonging to a contemporary fortress. The fortified complex comprises a watchtower with an underlying cistern connected to a defensive wall circuit, and a large service building located on the southern side of the fortification. The Cathedral of S. Maria d’Anglona dates to the end of the 11th century. The building corresponds to a large church with three naves divided by pillars, with three semicircular apses and a "Doppelturmfassade", which therefore incorporates two square towers. In 1092 Pope Urban II, during his journey from Calabria to Taranto, visited the "city of Anglona" together with the Norman counts Boemondo and Guglielmo and the church under construction. In the same period the episcopal seat was transferred from Tursi to Anglona and the building of the new cathedral was completed according to the Benedictine-Cassinese architectural models recurring in other contemporary buildings of southern Italy and Basilicata. In the last decades of the 12th century, a “protiro” was added to the façade which gives depth to the main entrance and whose plastic decoration, with zigzag motifs and radial heads on the portal rings, derives from the Norman sculpture in the Lucan-Apulian area at the end of the 11th and 12th centuries. The interior of the Cathedral is decorated with a cycle of frescoes that represents one of the most rich episodes of medieval art with a clear Byzantine imprint, testifying the influence of the oriental artistic language in Latin culture.