Il Cavaliere Templare

"The Templar Knight of Tursi" by Salvatore Verde

Tursi - After years of research, the book "The Knight Templar of Tursi" by Salvatore Verde, an expert on local history, as well as a teacher of the nursery school, journalist and author of cinema, is in Italian bookstores. Published by Giuseppe Laterza of Bari, the book of about 160 pages uses the preface by the young Lucan historian Giovanni D’Andrea and the cover design by the artist Vincenzo D’Acunzo; moreover, it contains a substantial bibliography and an explicit photographic appendix, with the chronotaxis of the bishops of the diocese of Anglona (Tursi), from 1050 to 1320.

After the extensive historical introduction, the index of the chapters (The major military religious orders; The Knights Templar; The Normans in Southern Italy and the Councils of Melfi; An endless search; Settlements of religious knights in Lucania; A controversial hypothesis on the Italian founder of the Templars; The mosaic of the Tursitan traces; The archaeological proof, toponymy intuition and, above all, the testimony; A possible interpretation, indeed a probable one), already provides the key to the interpretation of Verde, supported by a series of unique elements, traces and signs, in an interpretative journey that goes from the general to the particular in a coherent way.

In short, the history of the Templar knight of Tursi (still without a name) takes shape and historical consistency, without yielding in terms of scientific rigor and avoiding falling into the easy argument. The author, in fact, supports his historical-journalistic thesis, with a serious reasoning, discounting a minimal regional bibliography and the absolute lack of finalized archaeological excavations (in the whole South), having on the contrary a dense blanket of inextricable mysteries, imaginative legends and hazards of all kinds. Therefore, a working hypothesis that is not easy, to be demonstrated, but absolutely plausible, to date, which has had in Professor Bianca Capione Ferrari, one of the major Italian scholars on the Templar settlements, a convinced and enthusiastic supporter of the Tursi Templar ( with references to the territory of Anglona, ​​Cantarato-Labriola, Caprarico, Pandosia, Panevino, Pantoni, Pantoni-Sole, Pescogrosso, Ponte Masone, Rabatana, San Lazzaro, San Michele, San Teodoro).

The essay also offers a vast overview of monastic-knightly presences in the Basilicata / Lucania region, with news, references and quotes from over fifty locations: Potenza, Matera (and Picciano), Abriola, Acerenza (Acheruntia), Agri, Alto Jonio , Avigliano (and Lagopesole), Balvano, Banzi, Basso Sinni, Calvello, Cancellara, Carbone, Castelmezzano / Castrum Medianum, Cersosimo / Kirzosimo, Chiaromonte, Colobraro, Corleto Perticara, Forenza, Genzano, Grassano, Grumento, Latiniano, Lavello, Marsico Nuovo , Melfi, Mercurion, Metapontino, Metaponto / Metapontum, Miglionico, Montescaglioso, Muro Lucano, Murgia Materana, Noepoli (Noia), Nova Siri / Siris, Oppido Lucano, Palazzo San Gervasio, Pecopagano, Pietragalla, Pignola (Monte San Bernardo di Chiaravalle) , Policoro / Heraclea, Pollino, Ripacandida, Roccanova, San Fele (hamlet in Armaterra), Satriano, Senise, Sinni, Tolve, Tricarico, Vaglio (and Serra di Vaglio / Serra San Bernardo), Venosa (district of Boreano, the disappearance Cisterna), Vulture.   From the preface by Giovanni D’Andrea"A study, faced with competence and historical humility, ... which wants to be a linear and very precious piece of a mosaic related to an aspect of the regional history of Basilicata, very complicated due to the scarcity and difficulty in finding historical information, but facilitated by the large presence of symbolic references that, however, make research move cautiously in an overall picture in which everything is yet to be completed. The present work shows that something in the field of research, for the purpose of reconstructing the regional historical memory, is moving ". The book "The Templar Knight of Tursi" (16 January 2013) was appreciated by specialistsRelevant and authoritative scientific, methodological and historical-critical attestation attributed to the essay by Salvatore Verde, "The Knight Templar of Tursi" (Editions of Giuseppe Laterza, Bari, 2012). The research by the Lucanian author of Tursi, teacher of the Infant School and journalist, as well as film author and lover of local history, has aroused a growing curiosity and a motivated interest among the Lucan readers and a more than convinced appreciation among the scholars Italian.It is the evaluation of merit, in fact, that the prestigious Tradizione Templare association (http://tradizionetemplare.blogspot.it/) developes year by year (since 2008), referring to the 2012 publications of all the publishers on the specific topic of the monastic order -cavalleresco. Only a dozen titles have exceeded the threshold of sufficiency and among these is the book of Verde which has thus commented:
“I am truly honored and grateful to Professor Bianca Ferrari Capone, who is among the highest authorities on the subject of Templar settlements especially in Italy and in the South. To her I owe everything, and not by chance I also dedicated my book to her, including the communication she sent me and which I transcribe in full: <<Gent. prof. Verde, as every year, the Tradition Templar Association has published the judgment given to all the books on the Templars published in 2012. Its book on the Templar of Tursi was classified with the 7/10 grade, one of the few that deserved the most of the sufficiency, with the following motivation: "Interesting work that deals with the history of the Tursi knight, still unidentified, without ever deviating from scientific rigor or falling into obvious localisms". In expressing my heartfelt congratulations, I would like to welcome my most affectionate greetings, Bianca Capone >>.In the aforementioned blog, a true obligatory reference for enthusiasts, lovers and specialists in the field, for the undeniable value of collaborators and for being a high-level site of rigorous reviews, after an interview with the researcher Barbara Frale, a young and brilliant Italian scholar, all the works published last year are listed, both those reported as deserving and those substantially nipped (with few titles waiting to be better framed). The consistency, humility and politeness of Salvatore Verde are really in excellent company, with Helen Nicholson, Giorgio Alberini, Giampiero Bagni, Sandro Bassetti, Carlo Castignani, Simonetta Cerrini, Pietro Diletti / Nunzio Sardinia, Cristian Guzzo / Nadia Bagarini, Antonio Sabia, Alessio Varisco, the deserving LARTI, and Franco Cardini / Raffaele Licinio, Domenico Rotundo, Uberto Tommasi. Salvatore Verde, short notesSalvatore Verde, the first of twelve children, was born in 1955 in Tursi, where he lives with his family. Married with Rosa Cuccarese since 1979, three times father (Leandro Domenico, 38; Verdiana Carmen, 35; Ruben Gaetano, 29), is a more unique than rare teacher, a serious journalist and an attentive film scholar, as well as a historical maximum local of our time. Member of the National Order of Advertising Journalists of Basilicata, he has been collaborating with La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno since 1998, but has also published on several other newspapers, from Il Corriere del Giorno-Taranto to Mondo Basilicata. Magazine of history and stories of emigration, quarterly of the Regional Council of Basilicata, dealing with cinema.
Already a member of the Lucanian regional committee for radio and television and RAI, in the three-year period 1978-81, with the appointment of the Regional Council of Basilicata, Verde was also an esteemed and transparent socialist exponent, first as a trade unionist in Matera (1987-90) and then, elected councilor to the Province (1990), as Provincial Councilor for the Environment (1991-95). In local political history, it still has a record that is still unsurpassed, confirming its status as a much loved citizen: it had the highest figure of personal votes in absolute terms and in percentage, at an electoral consultation (Political Elections of April 1992) . The experience of the press officer of the Municipality of Tursi and director of the information magazine “Tursitani”, from 2004 to 2008, was then merged into the foundation of the online newspaper "Tursitani.it" (from 2008 to present). Just the constant and accurate excavation, rereading and enhancement of the roots, carried out in those years, allowed him to deepen over the years the many aspects of the history of the country, up to the discovery of the different signs and details that he connected with the culture of oral tradition and which are the basis of the intuition deployed in this book. 

In 2006-07, he wrote, directed, interpreted and co-produced the award-winning research feature Simple Harmonic Way - A Teacher's Kindergarten. For the publisher Giuseppe Laterza of Bari, he published The Knight Templar of Tursi (2012), The Lucanian film diegesis and the cliché image of Basilicata (2013, with his son Leandro Domenico Verde), and “Della vigilia è l’incanto” ( 2017, first edition Tursitani.it 2016), a memory of the dying father, all with appreciation of scholars, critics and the public. It has a general library of over 10,000 books, a video library of almost 6,000 films, more than 2,500 film texts and 2,000 numbers of film magazines and a huge archive of press clippings dedicated to the Seventh Art and the Show. Since 2007 he is president of the Jury of "CinemadaMare", the international traveling festival of short films in digital and with seminar activities in Nova Siri, directed by Franco Rina, and since 2017 he also chairs the Jury of the CinemadaMare-Scuole competition, reserved for schools in Basilicata . In December 2016 he was appointed to the Board of the Lucana Film Commission Foundation. With retirement he can continue to devote himrself to his beloved hobbies, cultivating his passions, between the history of Tursi, cinema and non-fiction. In the summer of 2018, he was awarded the "Rabatana Award" by the Municipal Administration, the greatest recognition of the City of Tursi to the "illustrious Tursitani".