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its morphology, can be considered a natural fortress. The area is also home to
the Romanesque Duomo or Cathedral,
built c. 1268-1270 on the acropolis. It
houses many works of art including a Byzantine Madonna from the 13th century
called Madonna della Bruna.
The Medieval Renaissance section is located along il Piano or plain, on the outskirts of the Sassi.
Matera has many churches from the
13th-19th centuries, with a large Baroque group, S. Giovanni, S. Domenico
and the duomo being the oldest.
prehistoric times to date.
In the 1950’s when the inhabitants who
lived in the grottos dug out of the mountain were forced to abandon those dwellings to settle in modern districts, no one
would have ever thought that those grottos - the Sassi - would have become the
symbol of a reborn city. UNESCO added
the Sassi of Matera to its list of World Heritage Sites in 1993, as a whole and millennial way of life to be preserved and
handed down to our descendents. In
fact, it was recognized as a model for living harmoniously with the environment
while integrating w ith it and taking advantage of resources without disturbing
the environment.
dominates the city, so it seemed only natural for the people from Matera to go
up there and dig out that rock to build a
home in it.
The material that was extracted was processed to make the façade of the dwelling. After the first home, others were built until there was a network of houses,
tunnels and alleyways passing over and
in each other to become that magic place called Sassi - a gigantic sculpture, a
miracle of town planning that has been
recognized as a World Heritage Site.
Since then, several efforts have been
made to restore them. Today a visit of
the Sassi is a true journey into the past of
The People of the Sassi
Geologists call it calcarenite and com- these people.
mon folk refer to it as tuff: It’s the rock
surrounding Matera that this land’s ma- However, Matera is not just the Sassi. In
ster craftsmen learned to work with in fact the city encompasses several areas
ancient times. This friable, adaptable associated with different eras. The oldest
material is abundant in the mountain that one is in the Civita district, which due to
Il Parco della Murgia
In some way, Matera is the symbol of a rural civilization that has been able to keep
its traditions alive. The most significant
expression of rural art developed in the
area of Matera is in the many churches
dug out of the tuff, which often times are
frescoed. They are scattered around the
Murgia plateau or encompassed within
the urban fabric of the Sassi of Matera.
The oldest indications of this presence were discovered near the Grotta dei
Pipistrelli (Bat Cave), which is located
along a ravine that can be accessed from
the Agna di Matera neighborhood. This
grotto was dug out by the sea and has
been lived in by man since the Upper Paleolithic period.
Make sure you visit the Parco Archeologico Storico Naturale della Murgia e delle Chiese Rupestri del Materano, extending for over 8,000 hectares amongst the
towns of Matera and Montescaglioso. At
first sight, it appears to be a rocky desert
dotted by low vegetation, carved out by
deep canyons, steep precipices and shaped by the atmospheric events. Even in
this inaccessible area with a seemingly
desert appearance, nature has created a
large number of plants and animals and
man has left traces of his presence from
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