Its current name comes from St Erasmus, martyr of the Diocletian era and patron saint of the city who, according to legend, is responsible for its founding.

The Murge are the element that most characterizes the territory of Santeramo and are mainly made up of limestone rocks, which cross from South to North from Serrone to Murgia Sgolgore.

The Matine, in the direction of Matera, are represented by a vast plain, once marshy, which constitutes the fertile area of the santermano territory and is characterized by extensive cereal cops and the presence of numerous rural settlements.

[6] The Peucetians settlement of Santeramo belongs to the typology of centers located inland (inland) and developed on the promontory that dominated the whole surrounding area, a geographical position of control, exploiting the hydrogeomorphological characteristics of the land, corresponding to the fertile territories, torrential furrows of rainwater collection basins, the blades and, in the presence of ancient karst (caves).

An exemplary finding concerns an epighaph found in a garden belonging to Antonio di Santo,[7] which bears the name of the deceased -ELASIV- (subsequently classified (v)/(c)-ELASIV-(s)),[7] and placed by Theodor Mommsen between the Santeramo and gioiese area.

[7] Making a summary of the studies relating to the etymology of the toponym, we find: Lupatia (lib/lub) Λιβαδιον (valley) G. Colella (lub-) Root extrude lup- (which is about death) G. Alessio, S. Bekakos (lib-) Stagnant water G. Alessio (most recent) Aliba (lib-) Place of worship of water and the e S. Bekakos About the date of foundation of Lupatia, or rather of the birth of the poleonym, it is hypothesized at the turn of the 9th and the end of the 7th century BC.

The assiduous human presence in the Santeramo area has been witnessed since the Neolithic, given the discovery of many elements belonging to this historical phase,[6] specifically in the area known as Le Matine, located south of the current city center and characterized by flat soil, first marshy at the end of the seconda fase sub-boreale and then wooded in the Neolithic, due to probable reclamation in the epoca romana.

[6] The site of Masseria Fontana di Tavola is located along the Via Appia Antica (also called 'Via Tarantina'), which delineates the border between Santeramo in Colle and Matera.

It is located in the locality of Valzerosso, near a small valley crossed by a branch of the Silica, on a flat area which, proceeding eastwards, ends with a slight difference in height.

The quantity of ceramic fragments found can be ascribed to the chronological horizon between the Neolithic, the Eneolithic and the Bronze Age, collected on the site of Masseria Fontana di Tavola.

Within the landscape of the Upper Murgia of Santeramo in Colle, the remains of the entrenched Neolithic village of Masseria Grottillo are identified, which are of considerable interest from an archaeological point of view.

The entrenched Neolithic village was identified by Materano scholar Gianfranco Leonetti, in the field of topographic research and subject only to the constraint of the Archaeological Superintendency of Taranto - Dr. Donata Venturo on 26 May 1997 and has been studied since then.

On the basis of some studies,[6] it emerged that the archaeological site in question is located in the area of the Di Santo and Bonifacio farms S-SE of the town of Santeramo in Colle, height of 360 m. The site dominates the valley below and is crossed by ancient paths, N-NS and E-ES, not easily definable in time, which reached the Viglione farm, which coincides with Sublupatia, a station of the Via Appia.

These trays were built at the central Tunisian production site in Sidi Marzouk Tounis and they have been dated approximately (from silver prototypes) to the second half of the 4th Century AD.

The African lamp's shape is Hayes (1972) Typer II, (fine-grained fabric, neat and sharp decoration) from central Tunisia.

And, in particular, significant are the numerous and punctual comparisons with the decorative motifs found in the geometric ceramic of Gravina, recently inserted by Yntema in the most ancient phase of the iapigia production, dated in a chronological period ranging from the 9th to the beginning of the 8th century BC.

The analogies with Gravina I are obviously not accidental, if we consider the position of the two located, such as the nearby centres of Altamura and Monte Sannace, in the hinterland of Peucezia, on the edge of the Murgic plateau, etc.

This last study deals with an investigation that Federico II started on the basis of the Norman models, on the localities required to repair the royal fortresses.

[9] The domus were particularly numerous in Apulia: out of eighty-two building structures listed in the Statutum de reparatione, thirty-five were such, most of which located in the Capitanata area.

[11] As the Istituto Nazionale di Statistica stated in 2012:[16]In the countryside of Santeramo between 1930 and 1931 some scenes of the silent film Idillio Infranto, directed by Nello Mauri with Ida Mantovani and other amateur actors were shot.

The typical Santermana cuisine is essentially based on local products: wheat, oil, wine, meats, cheeses, vegetables and fruit.

Among the typical sweets there are the marzipan castagnelle, the carteddate and the purciddi with the vincotto obtained from cooking figs, the Easter scarcedde with boiled eggs in the shape of doves, horses and handbags.

[24][25] Defined the "Switzerland of Italy" until a few years ago, due to the very low unemployment rate without source,[26] Santeramo also boasts primacy of "World City of the Living Room",[27] as the headquarters of Industry Natuzzi leader of upholstered furniture listed on the Wall Street stock exchange.

The interurban transport of Santeramo in Colle is carried out with scheduled bus services managed by the companies Autolinee Caponio,[28] Sita Sud[29] and Stp Bari.