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Matera
Matera | |
|---|---|
| Comune di Matera | |
 Panorama of Matera | |
 Coat of arms | |
.svg) Matera within the Province of Matera | |
show Location of Matera | |
  Matera Location of Matera in Basilicata | |
| Coordinates: 40°40′N 16°36′E | |
| Country | Italy |
| Region | Basilicata |
| Province | Matera (MT) |
| Frazioni | La Martella, Venusio, Picciano A, Picciano B |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Domenico Bennardi (M5S) |
| Area | |
| • Total | 387.4 km2 (149.6 sq mi) |
| Elevation | 401 m (1,316 ft) |
| Population (January 1, 2018)[3] | |
| • Total | 60,403 |
| • Density | 160/km2 (400/sq mi) |
| Demonym(s) | 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 |
| 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] (
listen); Materano: Matàrë [maˈtæːrə]) is a city in the region of Basilicata, in Southern Italy.
As the capital of the province of Matera, its original settlement lies in two canyons carved by the Gravina River. This area, the Sassi di Matera, is a complex of cave dwellings carved into the ancient river canyon. Over the course of its history, Matera has been occupied by Greeks, Romans, Longobards, Byzantines, Saracens, Swabians, Angevins, Aragonese, and Bourbons.
By the late 1800s, Matera's cave dwellings became noted for intractable poverty, poor sanitation, meager working conditions, and rampant disease. Evacuated in 1952, the population was relocated to modern housing, and the Sassi (Italian for "stones") lay abandoned until the 1980s. Renewed vision and investment led to the cave dwellings becoming a noted historic tourism destination, with hotels, small museums and restaurants – and a vibrant arts community.
Known as la città sotterranea ("the underground city"), the Sassi and the park of the Rupestrian Churches were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993. In 2019, Matera was declared a European Capital of Culture.
History[edit]
Though scholars continue to debate the date the dwellings were first occupied in Matera, and the continuity of their subsequent occupation, the area of what is now Matera is believed to have been settled since the Palaeolithic (10th millennium BC). This makes it potentially one of the oldest continually inhabited settlements in the world.[4] Alternatively it has been suggested by architectural historian Anne Parmly Toxey that the area has been "occupied continuously for at least three millennia and occupied sporadically for 150–700 millennia prior to this".[5]
The town of Matera was founded by the Roman Lucius Caecilius Metellus in 251 BC who called it Matheola.[6] In AD 664 Matera was conquered by the Lombards and became part of the Duchy of Benevento. Architectural historian Anne Parmly Toxey writes that "The date of Matera's founding is debated; however, the revered work of the city’s early chroniclers provides numerous, generally accepted accounts of Goth, Longobard, Byzantine, and Saracen sieges of the city beginning in the eighth century and accelerating through the ninth century AD."[7] In the 7th and 8th centuries the nearby grottos were colonised by both Benedictine and Basilian monastic institutions. The 9th and 10th centuries were characterised by the struggle between the Byzantines and the German emperors, including Louis II, who partially destroyed the city. After the settlement of the Normans in Apulia, Matera was ruled by William Iron-Arm from 1043.
After a short communal phase and a series of pestilences and earthquakes, the city became an Aragonese possession in the 15th century, and was given in fief to the barons of the Tramontano family. In 1514, however, the population rebelled against the oppression and killed Count Giovanni Carlo Tramontano. In the 17th century Matera was handed over to the Orsini and then became part of the Terra d'Otranto, in Apulia. Later it was capital of the province of Basilicata, a position it retained until 1806, when Joseph Bonaparte assigned it to Potenza.
In 1927 it became capital of the new province of Matera.
Government[edit]
Since local government political reorganization in 1993, Matera has been governed by the City Council of Matera. Voters elect directly 32 councilors and the Mayor of Matera every five years.
Main sights[edit]
The Sassi (ancient town)[edit]
Matera has gained international fame for its ancient town, the "Sassi di Matera". The Sassi originated in a prehistoric troglodyte settlement, and these dwellings are thought to be among the first ever human settlements in what is now Italy. The Sassi are habitations dug into the calcareous rock itself, which is characteristic of Basilicata and Apulia. Many of them are really little more than small caverns, and in some parts of the Sassi a street lies on top of another group of dwellings. The ancient town grew up on one slope of the rocky ravine created by a river that is now a small stream, and this ravine is known locally as "la Gravina". In the 1950s, as part of a policy to clear the extreme poverty of the Sassi, the government of Italy used force to relocate most of the population of the Sassi to new public housing in the developing modern city.
Until the late 1980s the Sassi was still considered an area of poverty, since its dwellings were, and in most cases still are, uninhabitable and dangerous. The present local administration, however, has become more tourism-orientated, and it has promoted the regeneration of the Sassi as a picturesque touristic attraction with the aid of the Italian government, UNESCO, and Hollywood. Today there are many thriving businesses, pubs and hotels there, and the city is amongst the fastest growing in southern Italy.
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