In Oliveto Lucano, the most ancient part, the ovoid one, had a defensive function, embracing the town centre in its highest point, the Piazza Ducale over which stand the Main Church, with its Romanic structure made of three naves.

From this hilly urban nucleus moves down the Piazza Umberto I that has an opening function: here all the roads move toward outside. Looking at Oliveto Lucano as a nature-town, the most interesting aspect is the centrality of Piazza Umberto I directly linked to the wood, through a small rear park.

So when the “May Feast” arrives, celebrated here in occasion of the Saint Patron St. Cipriano, the square appears in its multifunction role: the market place, the fair place, the feast place but also wood-town place where the trees arrive for the feast.

Each town stays alive thanks to a double regenerating push, a protective one directed inside, of female nature and with a stabilizing function, and another one directed outside with a function of exchange with the world.

This complex structure is well visible in Oliveto Lucano where the defensive structure moves toward the opening structure of the new square.