The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera

It is located in Basilicata, in southern Italy.

The site, World Heritage and a UNESCO site since 1993 includes the “Sassi” and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches, a complex of houses, churches, monasteries, and hermitages built in the natural caves of the Murgia, a limestone plateau characterized by deep fissures, ravines, rocks and caves.

 Matera is a border city, of contrasts and fusion between different landscapes, civilizations, and different cultures. In this area, man has always chosen life in caves, witnessing an adaptation to the environment that over the millennia has translated into a form of housing, peculiar to the city, of exceptional cultural and anthropological value. The houses in the two “Sassi” of Matera, the Caveoso and the Barisano, surround the Civita, the original nucleus of the city. In the 10th century, groups of shepherds began to settle and create rustic homes in the soft rock. These agglomerations became so complex as to determine a total occupation of the slopes. The result is a set of dwellings in shades of gray and white that can barely be distinguished from the rocks in which they are inserted. These structures in the Sassi have been abandoned since 1952 and today many of them, transformed into hotels and accommodation facilities, offer tourists the opportunity to experience the atmosphere of cave life. In 2019 Matera was awarded the title of European Capital of Culture. The beauty and charm of the city, with buildings similar to those of Palestine, have made it known in Italy and abroad, so much so as to be chosen as a film set by famous directors. Among the many, we would like to mention Mel Gibson in The Passion and Pier Paolo Pasolini in The Gospel According to Matthew.