Potenza (Italian: [poˈtɛntsa], Neapolitan: Putènza, Potentino dialect: Putenz) is a city and comune in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata (former Lucania). It is the capital of the province of Potenza and the Basilicata region.The city is the highest regional capital and one of the highest provincial capitals in Italy, overlooking the valley of the Basento river in the Apennine Mountains of Lucania, east of Salerno.