History

The hanging lake loved by Federico Well known for its Swabian past related to the figure of Fredrick II and his son Manfredi, the castle of Lagopesole (popularly called Lagopesole) is one of the most important hamlets of Avigliano, in the municipality of Potenza. The origin of the name derives from the medieval Latin “Lacus Pensilis”, hanging lake, because of the presence  of a quaternary lake in the underlying Vitalba valley, drained at the beginning of 1900. In defence of the Herculea roadBetween the VIII and X cent. it had the military function of  supervising the old road layout of the Herculea road, connecting Melfi to Potenza. The town was conquered by the Saracens -who started to build the castle (LINK) – and it had a flourishing period during the Swabian and Norman dominations. In 1337 it was the site of the reconciliation between the Abbot Rinaldo di Montecassino and Pope Innocenzo II  in the presence of the emperor Lotario of Saxony.

Carmine Crocco’s refuge After the Angevins, the hamlet had a period of decline. It became the feud of the Caracciolos in the 1416 and then in the 1530 of the Dorias, who kept it as licit owners until 1969. During the banditry, the village was surrounded by the gangs of Carmine Crocco and the castle became their refuge.