Matera

Matera overhangs a deep canyon

The pale yellow colour of the local stone used to build the visible portions of the caves (now forming the sassi), gives a sort of monochromatic view as if everything was to be seen in a old fashioned black and white photograph.

Matera, due to its spectacular feature, has been selected in the past, as a scenery for important films:
by Alberto Lattuada "La lupa",
by Pier Paolo Pasolini "Il Vangelo secondo Matteo",
by Francesco Rosi "Cristo si è fermato ad Eboli",
by Francisco Arrabal "L'Albero di Guernica",
by Mel Gibson "The Passion".

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Matera overhangs a deep canyon	The city of Matera is surely one of the most ancient urban conglomerations of the entire world, surely the largest and the mostly discussed one. The old inhabited area spreads over several hills around a very deep canyon ploughed by a torrent. It forms the so called "sassi" (stones of Matera). Since the prehistoric period, nomadic people found shelter in the caves and natural limestone ravines of that terrific canyon. During the Early Middle Age, the building of a fortified centre (Civita) caused the subsequent stratification of the anthropic settlements all around. In this process the "sassi" were originated in the complex structure we can still admire and now forming the two urban conglomerations called "Sasso Barisano" and "Sasso Caveoso". After the second world war, Matera became a well-known case all over the world as a symbol of the peasant culture and of all the related problems (see, for instance, the book by Carlo Levi "Christ stopped at Eboli"). The attention actually moved to the insurmountable difficulties concerning the hygienic conditions and in 1952, the local inhabitants were obliged to move to a new town, built using national specific funds. All the architectural and cultural environments of the world were discussing about this important experimentation concerning the new tendencies of the town planning culture.
The inhabitants, sort of innocent refugees, then claimed their original "sassi" to be restored and overhauled in order to give the town the basic services (water, electricity and waste plant). A special law in 1986 funded a first set of realisation programmes. In 1993, according to the convention for the protection of the cultural and natural patrimony, UNESCO included Matera and its "sassi" in the list of the world patrimony. Currently, after many programmes and public funds, the reclamation process is not yet concluded but the "sassi" returned to be a living world were thousand of people work and give their contribute to show to tourists and visitors the beauty of this place.
The pale yellow colour of the local stone used to build the visible portions of the caves (now forming the sassi), gives a sort of monochromatic view as if everything was to be seen in a old fashioned black and white photograph.

	Matera, due to its spectacular feature, has been selected in the past, as a scenery for important films: by Alberto Lattuada "La lupa", by Pier Paolo Pasolini "Il Vangelo secondo Matteo", by Francesco Rosi "Cristo si è fermato ad Eboli", by Francisco Arrabal "L'Albero di Guernica", by Mel Gibson "The Passion".
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