Back to photostream

Matera, panoramic view

Parco della Murgia Materana, Matera, Basilicata, Italia

Panoramic view from "Sasso Caveoso" to "Sasso Barisano"

 

Unfortunately, only downloading the full picture you can see all details and particularity of that place

 

Shot with a Sony ILCE 6000 + 16-50mm F3.5-5.6 OSS, 6 images stitched with Microsoft Image Composite Editor

 

*****************************************************************************

 

The Sassi di Matera ("Stones of Matera" in English) are ancient cave dwellings in the Italian city of Matera, Basilicata. Situated in the old town, they are composed of the Sasso Caveoso and the later Sasso Barisano.

The Sassi originate from a prehistoric troglodyte settlement and are suspected to be among the first human settlements in Italy. There is evidence that people were living here as early as the year 7000 BC.

The Sassi are houses dug into the calcarenitic rock itself, which is characteristic of Basilicata and Apulia, locally called "tufo" although it is not volcanic tuff or tufa.

Matera is the only place in the world where people can boast to be still living in the same houses of their ancestors of 9,000 years ago.

 

Until the late 1980s this was considered an area of poverty, since many of these houses were, and in some cases still are, uninhabitable. Current local administration, however, has become more tourism-oriented, and it has promoted the regeneration of the Sassi with the aid of the European Union, the government, UNESCO, and Hollywood.

 

 

8,265 views
97 faves
23 comments
Uploaded on September 16, 2016
Taken on August 1, 2016