Matera

---

12 May 2008

We left our car park quite early and continued heading north to Matera, a town we wanted to visit. Following a bit of navigational trouble, we located the camper stop near to the town and the owner ran us in so we could look around.

Matera includes a large area called the sassi which comprises thousands of dwellings built in layers up one side of a deep ravine that runs close to the town. Many of the houses and some churches are dug into the rock. The sassi was occupied by 15,000 people who lived in squalid conditions until they were forcibly removed by the government in the 1950s to new estates elsewhere in the town. The area remained empty for 20 years but has now started to be rejuvenated and reoccupied.

We took a guided tour in the morning and spent the afternoon visiting the rock churches and a recreated dwelling and walking around some of the stepped narrow streets.

---