Above all, the stones of the portals of Pignola: an integral part of the landscape, witnesses and protagonists of an ancient art; a monument to the patience and skill of master stonemasons who entrusted the stone with the task of passing down memory. A walk up the steep alleys, climbing towards the Mother Church, then descending towards stone-paved narrow streets, stopping at the slanted, downhill square, framed by noble palaces with refined portals, adorned with skillfully carved masks and finely “embroidered” iron railings.
Seven kilometers from Potenza, surrounded by woods, a short walk from ski resorts and a wildlife oasis, Pignola watches silently the evolution of its history. It has remained perched for centuries on a hill, from which, among the mountains, it overlooks the lake and “winks”, almost in a silent challenge, at the regional capital. A position that, already in the 19th century, “delighted those who admired such a spectacle,” as Cesare Malpica wrote in his account, who, traveling towards Potenza, happened to glimpse the silhouette of a village surrounded by mountains and which, due to an optical illusion, seemed very vast to him.
The square of Pignola almost wedges into the Palaces that surround it; it seems to be one with the caryatids of the Gaeta and Padula Palaces: monkey-like and human figures holding up the balconies. Whole figures and faces, perhaps the expressions of Queen Joanna the Mad. Two lions stand guard at Palazzo Gaeta, below, at the foot of the portal. The corbels have human faces; inside: an atrium decorated with coats of arms and figures; a staircase and statues of three musicians, playing flute and harpsichord, support the railing, perhaps recalling an illustrious Pignola musician of the 1600s: Scipione La Gorcia. Figures that, from the immobility of the stone, from the fixity of the images, seem to come alive. But it is only legend, only suggestion, between imagination and reality, between fable and history.
The arch of the Padula portal ends with a human figure; Palazzo Petrone’s windows have floral sculptures; the portal of Palazzo Pecoriello features child faces framed in a typically baroque style; Palazzo Scavone’s portal is neoclassical, essential, adorned with only two Doric columns, topped by a stone coat of arms depicting a lion holding a lance with three stars; caryatids shaped like crawling cats support the balconies; on the right side: a small shrine with the image of the Madonna.
The walk through the alleys of Pignola is accompanied by these figures. Continuous. On all doors, small and large, rich and poor. There are over 150, original in decoration, never excessive, rigidly geometric. They unfold one after another, almost testifying to a competition of virtues among artisan workshops; definitely a contest of magnificence among the noblest families. And, next to the portals: the masks to tie animals to. Often demonic figures, useful against the evil eye. The same figures are on the door knockers: perhaps to ward off visitors’ envy! Traditions, beliefs, culture, between architecture, craftsmanship, and the noble and peasant history of Pignola.
The Mother Church has a baroque portal. Adorned with circular elements and protruding forward, it closes with an open pediment. A single-light window illuminates the interior. Built in the 13th century in Romanesque style, it was completed in 1300 and entirely rebuilt in 1786 by Antonio Magri, a pupil of Vanvitelli. The bell tower, by Iacopo Trifoggiano from Stigliano, is decorated with stone sculptures portraying human faces, but also zoomorphic figures, hippogriffs, unicorns, crocodiles, bears, and lions, in the purest medieval style. It houses painted wooden works by Giovanni de Gregorio, called il Pietrafesa, who lived many years in Pignola and died there in 1636. Legend holds that his head is buried in the left pillar of the main altar.
Everything begins and returns to the square, to the people, to hospitality, to the stone flowers on the ancient palaces and on the tall bell tower, which for centuries, from afar, signals the presence of a community.
