Palazzo Baronale (Palazzaccio), Scanzano Jonico

History

The lands of Scanzano first belonged to the Basilian monks of Sant’Elia di Carbone, then passed to Pedro de Toledo, viceroy of Naples, who had the palace built in the 16th century to control the estate. Rows of small farmhouses grew up around the palace, and that is how the town was born. Scanzano is the youngest comune (municipality) in Basilicata, but its territory has been inhabited for more than three thousand years: at Termitito, remains of a settlement from the Mycenaean age have been found, later frequented by Greek colonists.

What to see

• The palace, with its squared bulk at the centre of the town.
• The two rows of farmhouses that flank it, the oldest core of Scanzano.

Useful information

• After the agrarian reform of the 1950s, the Scanzano plain became one of the richest farming areas in the South, famous for its strawberries.
• On the coast there are the Torre della Scanzana and the spiaggia di Scanzano.