ANGLOANA and TURSI, DIOCESES OF. — In the conciliar region of Lucania and Salernitan Campania, suffragan of Acerenza. Its territory extends over 53 communes in the provinces of Matera, Potenza, and Cosenza, covering an area of 1,821 km². It has 38 parishes, 57 diocesan priests, and 100,000 inhabitants, all Catholic; 5 communes of the diocese were founded between the 15th and 16th centuries by Albanian refugees, and the Greek rite is still observed there. Episcopal seat: Tursi and Chiaromonte, in the province of Matera.
ANGLOANA arose on the ruins of Pandosia, near Ercalca; it was the capital of the Enotrians and a center of Hellenism. It fell to Tursi, a Saracen stronghold, which lies 7 km from ANGLOANA, near the ruins of Metapontum. Of ANGLOANA, destroyed first by the Goths and later in the 14th century, only the ruins of the castle and the cathedral of S. Maria (11th century) in a Byzantine style with Romanesque elements remain. The origin of the see is uncertain. The existence of a diocese at Tursi in 968 is attested; it was detached from papal jurisdiction and placed under the patriarch of Constantinople in an attempt to substitute the Greek rite for the Latin, and was incorporated into the archiepiscopal see of Otranto. In the 12th century the episcopal see of Tursi appears in the list of Byzantine sees. It seems that in fact there were two distinct sees: Tursi, founded in 968 or earlier, where the Greek rite persisted until later times, and ANGLOANA, mentioned in the 12th century but perhaps existing even earlier. In 1320 Tursi is first mentioned as incorporated into ANGLOANA. In 1546 Paul III fixed the episcopal residence at Tursi and unified the title.
Abbeys and monasteries: S. Maria del Sagittario, S. Claudio and S. Giusto, S. Maria a Crinofria, S. Nilo at Roccanova, Chiaromonte; of great importance are those founded by the Basilians who, in the 8th century, expelled by the fury of the iconoclasts, had taken refuge in the region. Among these: S. Elia and S. Anastasio at Carbone, SS. Angelo and Quirico, which became famous commendams, S. Zosimo.