ItalianoThe Sassi of Matera are the historic city of Matera. The Sasso Caveoso and Sasso Barisano, along with the Civita district, constitute a unique and complex urban center; they represent an extraordinary village ecosystem, capable of perpetuating the farthest prehistoric past ways of living in caves up to modernity. The Sassi are really a cultural landscape, to quote the definition with which they were enrolled in the list of World Heritage by UNESCO in 1993. The Sassi are arranged on and around the bottom of two valley furrows, shaped by the passage of water, channeled in so-called “grabiglioni”: the Sasso Barisano, situated along the road out of town continue towards Bari and Sasso Caveoso, entirely dug into the rock. To divide the two valleys there is the Civita rising on a steep cliff . At the foot of Civita and the upper margin of the Sassi lies the Plan, the post-medieval old town, beyond which lies the contemporary Matera, and finally in front, on the opposite side of the Gravina di Matera, the plateau of the Murgia acts as a natural backdrop to this magnificent scenery, with numerous rock churches that form the Park of the Murgia Materana. The Sassi of Matera and the entire city can boast from 17 October 2014 the title of European Capital of Culture 2019.
