The excavations on the hill of Palecastro di Tortora, between 1990-2007 and from 2016 onwards, involve large sectors of the Lucanian settlement of Blanda and the Roman colony of Iulia Blanda, a small town at the mouth of the river Noce that was the administrative, political and commercial centre of a much larger territory. The site was occupied from the archaic period until the first half of the 5th century A.D., and became the seat of the bishop’s see at least until 743 A.D. The Enotrian phase was attested by residual stratigraphy, Lucanian phase by the remains of residential buildings situated along plateia A and by the fortifications running along the edge of the summit plateau, enclosing an area of 5 ha.
The forum was built in the mid 1st century B.C., bordered on three sides by buildings: to the north and east were quadrangular workshops fronted by a portico and a fountain, to the south stood the basilica. The fourth side was occupied by the Capitolium: three Italic type podium temples (A, B, C). Temple A, the smallest and best-preserved, was positioned slightly further south and back from the line of the other temple facades. The temples and workshops presented clear signs of destruction and partial rebuilding, presumably following an earthquake. In the residential sector west of the forum (C, D, E), two almost intact insula have been identified, separated by smaller roads at right-angles to the main W-E road.
The 2016-2019 interventions took place in the forum, in particular the north-east and east sectors, the area in front of temples B and C, the excavation of the Enotrian phases in the area abutting temple A, and two small 2nd-3rd century A.D. buildings facing onto plateia A. (Fabrizio Moro)