Matera, Italy

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Matera is a town and a province in the region of Basilicata, sometimes referred to as Lucania, in the south of Italy.

Apart from an economy which has traditionally been based on agriculture, in the late 1990s the major economic base of Matera, and of surrounding cities, is the production of upholstery furniture.

The town lays over a small canyon, which has been dug in the course of years by a small water stream, the Gravina.

Contents

1 History
2 Main sights

2.1 The \"Sassi\"
2.2 Churches
2.3 Others

3 Culture
4 External links

History

The area of what is now Matera was settled since the Palaeolithic. During the Greek expansion, it housed exiled from the Metapont and Heraclea (whence the origin of the name, "Met"+"Era"). The city was allegedly founded by the Romans in the 3rd century BCE, with the name of Metheola after the consul Lucius Caecilius Metellus.

In 664 CE Matera was conquered by the Lombards and became part of the Duchy of Benevento. In the 7th and 8th centuries the nearby grottos were colonized by both Benedictine and Greek-Orthodox monastic institutions.

The 9th and 10th centuries were characterized by the struggle between Saracens, Byzantines and the German emperors, including Louis II, who destroyed the city. After the settlement of the Normans in Apulia, Matera was ruled by William Iron-Arm from 1043.

The Tramontano Castle of Matera in a 19th century drawing.

After a short communal phase and a series of pestilences and earthquakes, the city in the 15th century became an Aragonese possession, and was given in fief to the Tramontano family. In 1514, however, the population, rebelled against the oppression and killed count Giovanni Carlo Tramontano. In the 17th century Matera was handed over to the Orsini and then became part of the Terre d'Otranto di Puglia; later it was capital of Basilicata, a position it retained until 1806, when Joseph Bonaparte gave it to Potenza.

In 1927 it became capital of province. On September 21, 1943, the Materani rose against the German occupation, the first Italian city to fight against the Wehrmacht.

The Sassi of Matera.

The Cathedral of Matera.

The church of Sant'Agostino.

San Giovanni Battista is a noteworthy example of Romanesque architecture in southern Italy.

The Baroque church of San Pietro Caveoso.

Main sights

The \"Sassi\"

Matera had gained international fame for its ancient town, the so-called "Sassi di Matera" (meaning "stones of Matera") which is a prehistorical (troglodyte) settlement, and is suspected to be one of the first human settlements in Italy.

The "Sassi" are houses dug into the tuff rock that characterize Puglia and Basilicata. Many of these "houses" are really only caverns. The streets in some parts of the "Sassi" often are located on the rooftops of other houses, because the ancient town had grown in height on one border of the ravine created by the Gravina stream.

After the "Sassi" had became a national case of political struggle during the 1950s, the government relocated most of the population of the Sassi to the modern city. People still live in the Sassi today, however. According to the English Fober's guide:

Until the late 1980s this was considered an area of poverty, since these houses are mostly unlivable. Current local administration, becoming more tourism-oriented, has promoted the gentrification of the "Sassi" and the tuff houses are becoming more livable and attractive.

There is a great similarity in the look of the Sassi with that of ancient sites in and around Jerusalem, which are as ancient.

Churches

The Cathedral (1270), dedicated to Santa Maria della Bruna since 1389. In Apulian-Romanesque style, the church has a 52 m tall bell tower; next to the main gate is a statue of the titular saint, backed by those of Sts. Peter and Paul. The main feature of the façade is however the rose window, divided by sixteen small columns and symbolizing the Wheel of Fortune. The interior is on the Latin cross plan, with a nave and two aisles. The decoration is mainly from the 18th century Baroque restoration, but recently a Byzantine-style fresco portraying the Final Judgment (14th century) has been discovered.
The church of San Giovanni Battista (1233), one of the most important example of medieval architecture in southern Italy. The church was abandoned in 1480, after the Turk conquest of Otranto, and reopened to the celebrations only in 1695. The façade has a large rose window flanked by two columns with chimerical figures and a richly decorated portal. Noteworthy is also the external decoration of one of the apses, with an angel and two elephants. The interior, on the Latin cross plan with a nave and two aisles, has regained much of its medieval appeal after the removal of the Baroque stuccoes. The nave and the two aisles are divided by columns with different style capitals, all decorated with human, animal and vegetables sculptures
Sant'Agostino (1591)
St. Francis of Assisi, edificated over the ancient subterranean church of SS. Pietro e Paolo (still visitable). The original church, directed opposite than today, dates from the 13th century: it was later enlarged in the 15th and 18th centuries, when the current Baroque façade was added. The interior has a single nave.
San Domenico (1230). The church has mantained its external Romanesque appearance, save the façade, whose summit is now square. In the center of the latter is a rose window portraying the Fortune Wheel, surmounted by the Archangel Michael. The interior, on the Latin cross plan, has a nave and two aisles: among the artworks housed is a 1518 tufa statue of the Madonna of Sanità and Baroque canvasses.
The Baroque church of the Purgatorio Nuovo (1725-1747). The façade is decorated with skulls from prelates, noblemen and common people.
San Pietro Caveoso (17th century). Nearby is the church of Santa Maria de Idris, carved in the rock

Others

The Tramontano Castle was built starting from the early 16th century by Gian Carlo Tramontano, count of Matera. The construction remained unfinished after his assassination in the popular riot of December 29, 1514. It has three large towers, of the twelve probably included in the original design.

Large Roman cisterns have been found under a tower of the castle

The city's museum include the National Archaeological Museum "Domenico Ridola", the National Museum of Medieval and Modern Art in Basilicata

Culture

Because of the ancient and primitive scenery in and around the Sassi, it has been used by film makers as the setting for ancient Jerusalem. The following famous biblical period movies were filmed in Matera:

Pier Paolo Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964).
Bruce Beresford’s King David (film) (1985).
Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ (2004).

Currently filming is Catherine Hardwicke’s The Nativity Story (2006).

Other famous movies set in the city include:

Alberto Lattuada's La Lupa (1953)
Giuseppe Tornatore's L'uomo delle stelle (1995)
The Omen (2006)

A famous chapter on Matera, describing the really poor life of people in the south of Italy at the beginning of the twentieth century, is in the book Cristo si è fermato a Eboli (Christ stopped at Eboli) by Carlo Levi, also turned into a film.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[Special]

World Heritage Sites in Italy

Basilicata · Communes of the province of Matera

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