Why was Matera abandoned?
Why was Matera abandoned? Matera, a troglodyte city in Basilicata, was considered “the shame of Italy” in the 1950s because of the extreme poverty and widespread disease in its ancient Sassi districts.
Do people still live in Matera?
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.
Why is Matera special?
Matera, a UNESCO World Heritage Site: the city of stones and rock churches. Matera is one of the oldest, still inhabited cities in the world: a magical place that preserves evidence of human settlements since the Palaeolithic period in its natural caves carved into the rock.
Where did James Bond stay in Matera?
Palazzo Gattini is the hotel of Matera that contributed to the new James Bond movie offering hospitality, privacy and serenity to the movie director, Cary Joji Fukunaga, and to the main actors, Daniel Craig and Léa Seydoux.
Is Matera the oldest city in the world?
Matera is an ancient city that seems to have existed forever. It is the third oldest city in the world, after Aleppo and Jericho, with over 10,000 years of history. The rock caves, the rocky Murgia of Matera and some primitive dwellings of the Sassi tell of ancient settlements.