Matera: from "Shame of Italy" to the hottest touristic attraction

It is known as the third-oldest continually inhabited settlement in the world.

Matera is a unique town which consist of network of caves, known as sassi – stones – dug into the rock face which until the 1950s, were still inhabited by people.

The Sassi only came to attention when writer Carlo Levi was exiled by Benito Mussolini’s fascist regime to a town close to Matera in 1935. In his book, Christ Stopped at Eboli, published in 1945, Levi described the horror he witnessed. Children were naked and starving, people lived with animals inside to be warmed. It was like a hell on earth. Levi concluded: “I have never seen in all my life such a picture of poverty.”

My husband's grandma who lives in Apuglia, told us that her brother was sent to work in Matera in 1950. He escaped it on the next day.

In 1950, the city was declared the "shame of Italy" by the country's prime minister.

And 15,000 residents living in the caves were moved to the city built closed by.

Nowadays, there are plenty of airbnbs, bars, restaurants there . It is enjoying a remarkable tourist boom.

Mel Gibson chose to film The Passion of the Christ here.
Actually, the cities nickname is “The Second Bethlehem".

There are plenty of remarkable churches there and the most famous is called the Churches of Santa Maria de Idris ( water). Because the people of Matera had a real problem with water supply.

I think this place deserves that you read about it more on Internet. There are many other interesting facts that I didn't write about this city because then I had to publish a book. You can watch some videos on YouTube.