the capital of culture

Matera

/ 01

the history of the city

MATERA

"Matera is one of the oldest cities in the world whose territory holds evidence of human settlement starting from the Paleolithic period and uninterrupted to the present day. It represents an extraordinary page written by man through the millennia of this very long history."

"Matera is the city of the Sassi, the original urban core that developed from natural caves carved into the rock and later shaped into increasingly complex structures within two large natural amphitheaters that are the Sasso Caveoso and the Sasso Barisano."

/ 02

unesco heritage

MATERA

"In 1993 UNESCO declared the Sassi di Mat era a World Heritage Site The Sassi di Matera is the 6th site in Italy in chronological order, the first in the south. On the occasion of this inscription, for the first time UNESCO uses in its criteria and motivations the concept of Cultural Landscape, which will later be used to motivate the inscription of other sites in the world."

"On October 17, 2014, Matera was designated European Capital of Culture for 2019."