Rabatana
Rabatana is the oldest district of Tursi, in the Matera’s province.
It was the first settlement of Tursi, and it is literally surrounded on each side by deep and inaccessible ravines. Around of the half of the V century, the Goths build the castle. Around which the fist stone houses was built and it was built the primordial nucleus of Tursi, that it grew as a result of the depopulation of Anglona.
Towards the year 850, the area was inhabited by the Saracens, who left deep traces I the architecture and in the local dialect.
In memory of their Arab villages, the Saracens called the place Rabatana.
The Rabatana, for the excellent defense position, continued to grow even under the Byzantine rule that in 890 the expelled the Saracens.
Until the half of 14 century it was a populated and important center, custodian of tradition and culture propeller. The Rabatana has become a tourist destination mainly because of the poet Albino Pierro who has made Rabatana the source of inspiration for his poetry.
In the Rabatana we can retrace the streets of the ruins of primordial nucleus and visit what remain of the ancient dwellings, often of only one room of the ground floor.