A few kilometers from Potenza, a borough with an uncommon name faces the Basento valley. Brindisi di Montagna , built at a 860m. altitude in a position easily defendable against potential aggressors, lies in an area where human settlements date back to the Third Millennium B.C. In the Archaelogical Museum in Potenza, proofs are found of human presence from the prehistorical down to the Ancient Lucanian, Roman and Medieval times. Prior to the XI Century, a group of St Basil monks founded the “Badia di Santa Maria dell’Acqua Calda” (Saint Mary of the Hot Water Abbey), donated in later times by the Sanseverinos to the Cistercians of the monastery of Padula. In 1268 Charles I Anjou entrusted the fiefdom of Brindisi and Anzi to Guidone da Foresta, who built a castle to defend it, in later times enlarged by the following tenants. After the 1456 earthquakes, the town was rebuilt and populated by refugees coming from Albania, under the patronage of Pietrantonio IV Sanseverino, married to Irene, a niece of George Castriota Scanderbeg, the Albanian National hero. In 1799 Brindisi took part in the libertarian uprisings led by Father Fabrizio De Grazia. On November 2 in 1861, a thick fog saved the town from aggression by gangs of brigands led by Crocco, Borjes and Serravalle. The churches dedicated to “ San Nicola di Bari”, ” Santa Maria delle Grazie”, “San Vincenzo Ferrari” and “San Lorenzo” (with the Grancia di San Demetrio on one side) deserve a visit.