San Martino d'Agri.
According to old historical tradition, San Martino
was created by the destruction of Grumentum, like
many other villages around.
This village belonged to the Sanseverino from Bisignano
up to 1565, when, because of the breakdown of the
feudal system, this area was sold to Sifola from Trani
who owned it until 1806. Later it belonged to the
Chiaromonte County, then to the order of the Templars
before and to the Knights of Malta after. In the XV
century, San Martino was populated again by a colony
of Albanian refugees.
This village has an interesting old centre, with
narrow lanes, little houses in stone, steep steps
and palaces with little loggias and decorated portals.
The main monument in this village is San Francesco’s
Church, built in 1512 and restored in 1714. It is
a one nave church with rich stuccoes. Inside it there
is a fresco of the Crocifissione dating from the XVII
century with the town of Jerusalem, painted by Giovanni
De Gregorio, called Pietrafesa. On the right of the
altar there is a wooden statue of the ‘Madonna
della Rupe’, XVII century, as a copy of the
old wooden Madonna, of Byzantine origin. The nine
panels that can be seen in the false ceiling used
to be part of a polyptych composed by 15 paintings
on wood dating from 1538.