Matera is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places on Earth, a town of caves carved into a ravine in Basilicata. People lived in these Sassi for millennia, families and livestock together, until the 1950s, when the poverty was declared a national shame and everyone was moved out. For decades the caves stood empty. Then artists returned, hotels opened in the grottoes, and film-makers used it to play ancient Jerusalem. In 2019 Matera was European Capital of Culture. A place that fell to the bottom and climbed back.
Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.
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