Matera

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Matera Matàrë (Materano)
Comune
Comune di Matera
Panorama of Matera
Flag Coat of arms
Matera within the Province of Matera
Location of Matera
Matera Location of Matera in Basilicata Show map of Italy Matera Matera (Basilicata) Show map of Basilicata
Coordinates: 40°40′N 16°36′E / 40.667°N 16.600°E / 40.667; 16.600
Country	Italy
Region	Basilicata
Province	Matera (MT)
Frazioni	La Martella, Venusio, Picciano A, Picciano B
Government
• Mayor	Domenico Bennardi (M5S)
Area [1]
• Total	387.4 km2 (149.6 sq mi)
Elevation	401 m (1,316 ft)
Population  (January 1, 2018)[2]
• Total	60,403
• Density	160/km2 (400/sq mi)
Demonym	Materani
Time zone	UTC+1 (CET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code	75100
Dialing code	0835
Patron saint	Madonna della Bruna
Saint day	July 2
Website	Official website

The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera

UNESCO World Heritage Site
The Sassi of Matera
Criteria	Cultural: iii, iv, v
Reference	670
Inscription	1993 (17th Session)
Area	1,016 ha
Buffer zone	4,365 ha

Matera (Italian pronunciation: [maˈtɛːra], locally [maˈteːra] ^ⓘ; Materano: Matàrë [maˈtæːrə]) is a city and the capital of the Province of Matera in the region of Basilicata, in Southern Italy. With a history of continuous occupation dating back to the Palaeolithic (10th millennium BC), it is renowned for its rock-cut urban core, whose twin cliffside zones are known collectively as the Sassi.

Matera lies on the right bank of the Gravina river, whose canyon forms a geological boundary between the hill country of Basilicata (historic Lucania) to the south-west and the Murgia plateau of Apulia to the north-east.^[3] The city began as a complex of cave habitations excavated in the softer limestone on the gorge's western, Lucanian face.^[4] It took advantage of two streams which flow into the ravine from a spot near the Castello Tramontano, reducing the cliff's angle of drop and leaving a defensible narrow promontory in between. The central high ground, or acropolis, supporting the city's cathedral and administrative buildings, came to be known as Civita, and the settlement districts scaling down and burrowing into the sheer rock faces as the Sassi. Of the two streambeds, called the grabiglioni [it], the northern hosts Sasso Barisano (facing Bari) and the southern Sasso Caveoso (facing Montescaglioso).^[5]

The Sassi consist of around twelve levels spanning the height of 380 m, connected by a network of paths, stairways, and courtyards (vicinati).^[6] The medieval city clinging on to the edge of the canyon for its defence is invisible from the western approach.^[7] The tripartite urban structure of Civita and the two Sassi, relatively isolated from each other,^[8] survived until the 16th century, when the centre of public life moved outside the walls to the Piazza Sedile in the open plain (the Piano) to the west, followed by the shift of the elite residences to the Piano from the 17th century onwards.^[9] By the end of the 18th century, a physical class boundary separated the overcrowded Sassi of the peasants from the new spatial order of their social superiors in the Piano, and geographical elevation came to coincide with status more overtly than before, to the point where the two communities no longer interacted socially.^[10]

Yet it was only at the turn of the 20th century that the Sassi were declared unfit for modern habitation,^[11] and the government relocation of all their inhabitants to new housing in the Piano followed between 1952 and the 1970s.^[12] A new law in 1986 opened the path to restoration and reoccupation of the Sassi, this time – as noted by the architectural historian Anne Toxey – for the benefit of the wealthy middle class. The recognition of the Sassi, labelled la città sotterranea ("the underground city"), together with the rupestrian churches across the Gravina as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in December 1993 has assisted in attracting tourism and accelerated the reclaiming of the site.^[13] In 2019, Matera was declared a European Capital of Culture.