| UNESCO World Heritage Site | |
|---|---|
 The Sassi of Matera | |
 Interactive map of Sassi di Matera | |
| Location | Province of Matera,Basilicata,Italy |
| Part of | The Sassi and thePark of the Rupestrian Churches [it] ofMatera |
| Criteria | Cultural: (iii), (iv), (v) |
| Reference | 670 |
| Inscription | 1993 (17thSession) |
| Area | 1,016 ha (2,510 acres) |
| Buffer zone | 4,365 ha (10,790 acres) |
| Coordinates | 40°40′00″N16°36′30″E / 40.6667°N 16.6083°E /40.6667; 16.6083 |
  Sassi di Matera Location of Sassi di Matera in Basilicata  Sassi di Matera Sassi di Matera (Italy) Show map of Italy | |
TheSassi di Matera are two districts (Sasso Caveoso andSasso Barisano) of theItalian city ofMatera,Basilicata, well-known for their ancientcave dwellings inhabited since thePaleolithic period.
The "Sassi" have been described byFodor's as "one of the most unique landscapes in Europe".[1] Along with the park of the Rupestrian Churches, it was named aWorld Heritage Site byUNESCO in 1993.
The Sassi originate from a prehistorictroglodyte 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.[2]
The Sassi are houses dug into the calcarenitic rock itself, which is characteristic ofBasilicata andApulia, locally called "tufo", though it is neithervolcanic tuff, nortufa limestone. The streets in some parts of the Sassi often run on top of other houses. The ancient town grew up on one slope of the ravine created by theGravina river. The ravine is known locally as "la Gravina".
The termsasso derives fromLatinsaxum, meaning a hill, rock or great stone.[3]
In the 1950s, the government of Italy forcefully relocated most of the population of the Sassi to areas of the developing modern city. Beset by extreme poverty and riddled withmalaria, the unhealthy living conditions were considered inhuman and an affront to the modern new Italian Republic ofAlcide De Gasperi.[4] However, people continued to live in the Sassi, and according to the English Fodor's guide:[when?]
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. The current local administration, however, has become more tourism-oriented, and it has promoted the regeneration of the Sassi with the aid of theEuropean Union, the government, andUNESCO. Today there are many thriving businesses, pubs, and hotels there, as described in an April 2015 article inThe New Yorker.[5]
The "Sassi" grew in the area ofMurgia Plateau,[6] extended betweenApulia andBasilicata. Along with the "Civita" and the "Piano", the two Sassi form Matera's Old Town.[7]
The Sassi are visually reminiscent of ancient sites in and aroundJerusalem, and for this reason they have been used in many Christian-themed films, includingThe Gospel According to St. Matthew (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1964),The Passion of the Christ (Mel Gibson, 2004),The Nativity Story (Catherine Hardwicke, 2006) andBen-Hur (Timur Bekmambetov, 2016).[8]
They also appeared inPatty Jenkins'sWonder Woman (2017), serving as a location for the Amazons' cityThemyscira,[9] andCary Joji Fukunaga'sNo Time to Die (2021), where a scene withJames Bond'sAston Martin racing through was shot.[10]
in 2016 the bandCorde Oblique released a song, "I sassi di Matera", on the album "I Maestri del Colore". The song is divided into two parts, the first inspired by the so-called Sasso Barisano, and the second by the Sasso Caveoso.
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