Editing Matera (section)

=== 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>