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Modern Description: Marsico Nuovo is situated at the end of the end of the upper Agri valley on a knoll with three peaks ‐ four including the Medieval ‘Il Castello’. It overlooks a passage that leads through the nearby mountain range to Brienza, and ultimately Satriano. It is a part of the local upper Agri visibility network that includes other contemporary sites that are placed along alternate sides of this section of the Agri valley ‐ Tramutola, Madonna Del Vetere and La Civita. This part of the Agri valley is a wide fertile plain, with a large flat expanse of arable land with good access to water. This would have been a valuable resource in a predominately mountainous area and presumably closely controlled. Marsico Nuovo would have also had the ability to control traffic through the pass that leads to Brienza and Satriano. Cremonesi goes further and states that: ‘Marsico costituisce un passaggio obbligato per i traffici tra il Vallo di Diano, le città magnogreche della costa ionica e i centri indigeni del Potentino centrale’ Identifying the wall line is not easy and most of the original Lucanian features presumably lie buried beneath the ‘modern’ town. There are reports of the re‐use of Lucanian era blocks from fortification walls however none could be found on inspection of the area. The highest of the three hills is cited as the most likely candidate for the fortified Lucanian settlement and this where the (single) observer point was placed.

Info: Myers Lucania

Brett Andrew Myers, Visual Connectivity and Control in Ancient Lucania, MPhil thesis 2018, Univ. of Sydney

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