Seeking for the Secret City - VI

Annia way is for the Volceiano territory the cornerstone of all connections, organization and economics. The S. Cono bridge, dating to the age of  Augusto, allowed for a fork of the road to arrive into the city. The road, reached the bridge S. Cono and  crossed the river, attacked decisively the hill in the direction of Buccino, where it was found a little tract of the ancient “basolato” (=paving).

Here the road arrived at Volcei-Buccino, towards the S. Elia gate.

South of the city, where is a monumental necropolis of the Roman age, (one of the necropolis of Volcei, the other two are, one inside the sacred area of Santo Stefano, the other one is that of S. Antonio).

Volcei-Buccino, stands on a hill situated between the rivers Tanagro and Platano, a tributary of the Fiume Bianco (=White river), at a point which overlooks the Sele valley and the Gulf of Paestum.

In locations around the hill of the modern town, have been found finds dating from the Neolithic and Middle Bronze age, but with the transition to the Iron Age (from the end of the VIII century B.C.), the place becomes the hub around which spread throughout the organization of the territory.
At the end of the fourth century. B.C. the construction of an imposing city wall marks the birth of a city of Lucania, which subsequently become the center of the Roman Volcei, a federated city of Rome before and a municipium then.

At the collapse of the Roman Empire the city suffered a slow drop, to be reborn in the twelfth century with the construction of the Norman castle.
It is clear, and the excavations have made visible, as the current urban structure is derived from the Roman city, a feature that makes the archaeological area of Volcei a splendid example of "urban archeology."

’The city currently has three main gates, all of the Middle Ages, but overlapped with the old Roman gates.

Porta Consina	Porta San Mauro	Porta Sant’Elia

Volcei entered into the  Roman rule during the Second Punic War.

After the battle of Canne (216 BC) Hannibal moved his troops toward  Campania, with the aim of reducing the supplyings to Rome and the more ambitious aim to raise the Italic people against Rome.

Hannibal's strategy was based on the belief that a lot of people, that in different ways were part of the Roman rule, would rebel.
This did not happen, the only major center who deserted it was Capua and Hannibal had to retreat in Brutium, a territory most corresponding to the current northern Calabria.

Volcei was along the way of the Carthaginian army so that the Volceiani had no other lots that go on the side of Hannibal.
The subsequent retreat of the Carthaginians left Volcei at the mercy of the Romans and the Volceiani gave up the consul Quinto Fulvio Flacco in 209 B.C.

The Roman historiography gives the consul a forgiving attitude, but the traces of fire and destruction in the land of Volcei leave any doubt about that.

Passed the critical phase of the Punic war, part of the territory of Volcei was confiscated and became “ager publicus populi romani”, public property to be distributed to individuals in batches of maximum 500 iugeri (one iugero is the surface that a pair of oxen could plough in a day, an extension corresponding about to 2,500 square meters).

The Roman law provided the limit of 500 iugeri for the distribution of the ager publicus, but the landed aristocracy circumvented the law, using a dummy, or just infringing it. It was so that were formed great latifundia whose workforce consisted of slaves.

The distribution of the ager publicus at Volcei began in 133 B.C.

In 90 a.C. the Social War broke out and opposed to Rome many of the Italic peoples such as  Samnites and Lucani. The war ended with the victory of the Romans but  they were induced to grant citizenship to Italic people.

The granting of citizenship involved the fact that Italic people became in every respect Roman, with equal rights, but “sine suffragio” ie without the right to vote.
The conclusion was the loss of identity, even of the Italic language, the Oscan language, in short declined in favour of Latin.

From 140 to 70 B.C. the territory extending from Campania to Lucania and Brutium was the scene of frequent revolts of slaves. The rebellion culminated in the revolt of Spartacus, which departed from Capua, where there was the largest “schola gladiatorum” (=gladiators’ scool)  of Italy, and briefly he gathered around him seventy thousand slaves.
The revolt of Spartacus ended in 71 BC with a terrible defeat at the river Sele.

As mentioned the assignation of the ager publcus in Volcei was relatively old and is a mater of fact, testified by the archaeology, that as a result Volcei had a phase of great development.

The great Roman roads are the best witness of that development.

In medieval times the only effective re-use was along the axis of Roman Decumano Maximo (the east-west urban street).
The city in this period was probably concentrated around the presence of hermits, referred to the cult of St. John of Egypt, in the caves of via Egito, where was built a rocky settlement.

Only in the twelfth century, with the building of the tower of the Castel, originated a new impetus to urban renewal.

For the visit of the archaeological park of Volcei we use the following interactive map

And now?

Where we go to sleep?

Here are two tips:

if you want the easy life, beautiful rooms, good food, (great the pasta, great  the red wine, wine of St. Gregorio Magno !!). Then go to the hotel Montestella: it is 500 meters far from the center of Buccino (www.hotelvillamontestella.com).

If you seek for an overdose of luxury, then go to Eliceto, which is about 5 km from Buccino (www.elicetorelais.it).