Marsicovetere is a town of 5.253 inhabitants and comune

Comune

In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

 in the province of Potenza

Province of Potenza

The Province of Potenza is a province in the Basilicata region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Potenza.-Geography:It has an area of 6,545 km² and a total population of 387,107 . There are 100 comuni in the province .-History:In 272 B.C. the province was conquered by the Greek army...

, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata

Basilicata

Basilicata , also known as Lucania, is a region in the south of Italy, bordering on Campania to the west, Apulia to the north and east, and Calabria to the south, having one short southwestern coastline on the Tyrrhenian Sea between Campania in the northwest and Calabria in the southwest, and a...

. It is bounded by the comuni of Calvello

Calvello

Calvello is a town and comune in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. It is bounded by the comuni of Abriola, Anzi, Laurenzana, Marsico Nuovo, Marsicovetere, Viggiano....

, Grumento Nova

Grumento Nova

Grumento Nova is a town and comune in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. The ancient name of the town was Saponara.In the locality Spineta are the remains of the Roman town of Grumentum....

, Marsico Nuovo

Marsico Nuovo

Marsico Nuovo is a town and comune of the province of Potenza in the Basilicata region of southern Italy. It was the seat of the bishops of Grumentum.It is an agricultural centre in the Agri river valley.-History:...

, Paterno, Tramutola

Tramutola

Tramutola is a village and municipality in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata ....

, Viggiano

Viggiano

Viggiano is a town and comune in the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. It is bounded by the comuni of Calvello, Corleto Perticara, Grumento Nova, Laurenzana, Marsicovetere, Montemurro....

.

Historically important is the historic center, the old Marsicovetere, but now much of the population resides in Villa d'Agri, the new part of the town, at 600 m of altitude.

History

Marsicovetere was an ancient city of the Marsi

Marsi

Marsi is the Latin exonym for a people of ancient Italy, whose chief centre was Marruvium, on the eastern shore of Lake Fucinus, drained for agricultural land in the late 19th century. The area in which they lived is now called Marsica. During the Roman Republic the people of the region spoke a...

 in the Agri River

Agri River

The Agri is a 136 km long river in southern Italy. It flows through the region of Basilicata and into the Ionian Sea, near Policoro. In ancient times it was known as Aciris ....

 valley, later conquered by the Romans

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

.
In the year 1000 it was seat of a county. In 1498 King Frederick IV of Naples

Frederick IV of Naples

Frederick IV , sometimes known as Frederick I or Federico d'Aragona, was the last King of Naples of the House of Trastámara, ruling from 1496 to 1501...

 donated it to the Caracciolo

Caracciolo

Caracciolo is the surname of a famous noble family of southern Italy.Its members include:*Battistello Caracciolo, Italian painter*Carmine Nicolao Caracciolo, Spanish viceroy of Peru*Francesco Caracciolo, Neapolitan admiral and revolutionist...

 family, who held it until 1777 save a brief parenthesis under the Di Palmas. In 1860 it was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy.