"From Venusio to Renzo Piano's Project and Its Conservative Restoration" – a talk by Ulderico Pesce with music by Stefano Saletti
On Monday, September 28, 2026, at 7:00 PM and Wednesday, October 7, 2026, at 7:00 PM, Ulderico Pesce, Stefano Saletti, and the participants in the co-creation will tell the story of Niccolò Venusio in Matera. The tour will take place inside the palace of the same name, Palazzo Viceconte, located near the Cathedral of Matera and one of the most beautiful in the city. Niccolò Venusio was from Amalfi, and in the late 1400s, he produced and traded cotton paper in the Mediterranean, a fine paper that he sold primarily to the Byzantine world of Constantinople and Athens. He then moved to Matera and began producing and selling grain, which he traded in almost all the Mediterranean ports. His descendants built Palazzo Venusio, now Palazzo Viceconte, on the site of the Roman civita, next to the cathedral. The family later received a noble title in Turi, Puglia, where they moved, and later moved their businesses to Naples. Over the centuries, Palazzo Venusio was abandoned. It was purchased by Giuseppe Lamacchia, a gynecologist who served as mayor of Matera. He did not renovate the building, but instead allowed it to deteriorate further and modified some parts by introducing reinforced concrete. Then the "Sassi Redevelopment" law was passed, and the Municipality of Matera entrusted Renzo Piano with the project of transforming Palazzo Venusio into a cultural center. In a room of the building, during the performance, the project drawings will be shown for the first time. The project, like the building, was abandoned. In 1994, Dr. Viceconte purchased it. He could have continued Renzo Piano's project, but instead began a conservative restoration that lasted about 12 years.
