Editing Matera (section)

== Main sights ==
{{travel guide|section|date=January 2022}}

=== The Sassi (ancient town)===
{{main|Sassi di Matera}}
Matera has gained international fame for its ancient town, the "[[Sassi di Matera]]". The Sassi originated in a prehistoric [[cave dweller|troglodyte]] settlement, and these dwellings are thought to be among the earliest human settlements in what is now Italy. The Sassi are habitations dug into the [[calcareous]] rock, which is characteristic of [[Basilicata]] and [[Apulia]]. Many of them are really little more than small caverns, and in some parts of the Sassi a street lies on top of another group of dwellings. The ancient town grew up on one slope of the rocky ravine created by a river that is now a small stream, and this ravine is known locally as "la Gravina". In the 1950s, as part of a policy to clear the extreme poverty of the Sassi, the government of Italy used force to relocate most of the population of the Sassi to new public housing in the developing modern city.

Until the late 1980s the Sassi was still considered an area of poverty, since its dwellings were, and in most cases still are, uninhabitable and dangerous. The present local administration, however, has become more tourism-orientated, and it has promoted the regeneration of the Sassi as a [[picturesque]] tourist attraction with the aid of the Italian government, [[UNESCO]], and [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]]. In 2008, the city began the candidacy process for a [[European Capital of Culture]] in 2019; it was designated one of the European Capitals of Culture for 2019 on 17 October 2014.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Sarnacchiaro |first=Pasquale |last2=Micera |first2=Roberto |last3=Simonetti |first3=Biagio |last4=Ciuffreda |first4=Raffaela |date=2024-04-01 |title=Residents’ attitudes towards tourism development: evaluation and management in Matera city destination |url=https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11135-024-01853-6 |journal=Quality & Quantity |language=en |doi=10.1007/s11135-024-01853-6 |issn=0033-5177}}</ref> Today there are many thriving businesses, pubs, and hotels there, and the city is amongst the fastest growing in southern Italy.{{citation needed|date=November 2022}}
[[File:Panorama_of_the_two_Sassi_of_Matera.jpg|center|thumb|600x600px|View from the Canyon (''Gravina'')]]
<gallery widths="135px" heights="150px">
Matera01.jpg
File:Ita11141 01.jpg|Interior of a cave house
File:Ita11141 04.jpg
File:Matera casamuseo.jpg
File:Ita11175 07.jpg
File:Casa Grotta (3).jpg
File:Matera, chiesa rupestre di santo spirito.jpg|Exterior of a cave church
File:Ita11175 08.jpg|Interior of a cave church
File:Ita11175 01.jpg
</gallery>

=== Monasteries and churches ===
[[File:Sassi di Matera aprile06 05.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|left|Stairways in Matera.]]
Matera preserves a large and diverse collection of buildings related to the Christian faith, including a large number of rupestrian churches carved from the [[calcarenite]] rock of the region.<ref>Colin Amery and Brian Curran, ''Vanishing Histories,'' Harry N. Abrams, New York, NY: 2001, p. 44.</ref> These churches, which are also found in the neighbouring region of [[Apulia]], were listed in the [[1998 World Monuments Watch]] by the [[World Monuments Fund]].

''[[Matera Cathedral]]'' (1268–1270) has been dedicated to Santa Maria della Bruna since 1389. Built in an Apulian Romanesque architectural style, the church has a 52&nbsp;m tall bell tower, and next to the main gate is a statue of the Maria della Bruna, backed by those of Saints Peter and Paul. The main feature of the façade is the rose window, divided by sixteen small columns. The interior is on the [[Latin cross]] plan, with a [[nave]] and two aisles. The decoration is mainly from the eighteenth century Baroque restoration, but recently {{when|date=May 2016}} a Byzantine-style fourteenth-century fresco portraying the ''[[Last Judgement]]'' has been discovered.

Two other important churches in Matera, both dedicated to the Apostle Peter, are [[San Pietro Caveoso]] (in the ''Sasso Caveoso'') and [[San Pietro Barisano]] (in the ''Sasso Barisano''). San Pietro Barisano was recently restored in a project by the [[World Monuments Fund]], funded by [[American Express]]. The main [[altar]] and the interior [[frescoes]] were cleaned, and missing pieces of mouldings, reliefs, and other adornments were reconstructed from photographic archives or surrounding fragments.<ref>[http://www.wmf.org/project/rupestrian-churches-puglia-and-city-matera World Monuments Fund – Rupestrian Churches of Puglia and the City of Matera]</ref>

There are many other churches and monasteries dating back throughout the history of the Christian church. Some are simple caves with a single altar, occasionally accompanied by a fresco, often located on the opposite side of the ravine. Some are complex cave networks with large underground chambers, thought to have been used for meditation by the rupestrian and cenobitic monks.

=== Cisterns and water collection ===
[[File:FONTANA FERDINANDEA 2.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|Ferdinandea Fountain]]
Matera was built above a deep ravine called Gravina of Matera that divides the territory into two areas. Matera was built such that it is hidden, but made it difficult to provide a water supply to its inhabitants. Early dwellers invested tremendous energy in building [[cistern]]s and systems of water channels.

The largest cistern has been found under Piazza Vittorio Veneto, the Palombaro Lungo that was built in 1832.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.divento.com/en/parks-and-gardens/21825-piazza-vittorio-veneto-matera.html?search_query=Matera&results=17|title=Piazza Vittorio Veneto|website=Divento.com|access-date=11 February 2021}}</ref> With its solid pillars carved from the rock and a vault height of more than fifteen metres, it is a veritable water cathedral, which is navigable by boat. Like other cisterns in the town, it collected rainwater that was filtered and flowed in a controlled way to the Sassi.

There were also a large number of little superficial canals that fed pools and hanging gardens. Moreover, many bell-shaped cisterns in dug houses were filled up by seepage. Later, when the population increased, many of these cisterns were turned into houses and other kinds of water-harvesting systems were realised.

Some of these more recent facilities have the shape of houses submerged in the earth.<ref>{{cite book|last=Museo Laboratorio della Civiltà Contadina ONLUS|date=2014|orig-year=1st. Pub. 2007|title=Water-harvesting systems of Matera, from Neolithic to the first half of XX century|url=http://museolaboratorio.it/en/shop/water-harvesting-systems/|location=Matera|isbn=978-1500611569}}</ref>

=== Natural areas ===
The ''Murgia National Park'' (Parco della Murgia Materana), a regional park established in 1990, includes the territory of the [[Gravina di Matera]] and about 150 rock churches scattered along the slopes of the ravines and the plateau of the Murgia. This area, inhabited since prehistoric times, still preserves stationing dating back to the Paleolithic, such as the Grotta dei pipistrelli (cave of the bats), and to the Neolithic.<ref>{{cite book|author=Circolo culturale La Scaletta|title=Le Chiese rupestri di Matera|publisher=De Luca ed.|year=1966}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=Mario Tommaselli|title=Le masserie fortificate del materano|publisher=De Luca ed.|year=1986}}</ref> The symbol of the park is the [[lesser kestrel]].

The San Giuliano Regional Reserve, a protected area established in 2000, includes [[Lago di San Giuliano|Lake San Giuliano]], an artificial reservoir created by the damming of the Bradano river, and the river sections upstream and downstream of it.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Times Comprehensive Atlas of the World |edition=13 |year=2011 |publisher=Times Books |location=London |isbn=9780007419135 |page=78 K2}}</ref>

==== Timmari ====
''Colle di Timmari'', a green plateau located about 15&nbsp;km from the city, dominates the Bradano valley and the San Giuliano lake. It is a pleasant residential area, and on the top of the hill there is the small Sanctuary of San Salvatore that dates back to 1310 and an important archaeological area.

<gallery widths="135px" heights="150px">
File:Gravina di Matera (2).jpg|Gravina di Matera
File:Matera 2.jpg|Murgia National Park with prehistoric caves and rupestrian churches
File:Cavalli nel parco della Murgia.jpg|Horses in the Murgia National Park
File:Parco della Murgia Materana 15.jpg|
File:Parco della Murgia Materana 10.jpg|
File:Villaggio Saraceno2.JPG|Saracen village
File:San Luca alla Selva.JPG|Cave church of San Luca alla Selva
File:Lago San Giuliano.jpg|San Giuliano Regional Reserve
</gallery>

=== Other sights ===
<gallery widths="135px" heights="150px">
File:Castello Tramontano 2 Matera.jpg|The Tramontano Castle
File:Matera BW 2016-10-15 11-08-39.jpg|Palazzo Lanfranchi
File:Casa Cava interno 5.jpg|Auditorium of the culture centre ''Casa Cava''
</gallery>

The ''[[Castello Tramontano|Tramontano Castle]]'', begun in the early sixteenth century by [[Giovanni Carlo Tramontano, Count of Matera|Gian Carlo Tramontano, Count of Matera]], is probably the only other structure that is above ground of any great significance outside the sassi. However, the construction remained unfinished after his assassination in the popular riot of 29 December 1514. It has three large towers, while twelve were probably included in the original design. During some restoration work in the main square of the town, workers came across what were believed to be the main footings of another castle tower. However, on further excavation large Roman cisterns were unearthed. Whole house structures were discovered where one may see how the people of that era lived.

The ''[[Palazzo dell'Annunziata]]'' is a historical building on the main square, seat of Provincial Library.