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Stone Age – Sassi di Matera and Martella

From: Rome, Italia to Matera, Italy

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In the houses dig into Matera's Sassi, no one lives anymore with cows and pigs in their living rooms, with floors covered with manure and granfathers and forefathers buried underground. Into the Sassi, nobody lives anymore, that's it. even if they've been renovated, and with some coy b&b and few restaurants, Sassi remain a lonely place, empty, silent, and though it is a Unesco patrimony, it's a symbol of a past of poverty and urban blight. Matera's ancient part is looked from afar by local people, who's quite absent, locked into the new and wildly built part of the city. Old people still look a little bothered by past events, even if they're willing to talk about it, but the feeling is that in the end they don't really know how to deal with what's happened. There's no trace left by families who moved 50 years ago from the houses sculpted into the rocks to the new district "La Martella". This neighbourhood is 9 km far from Matera, it's linked to it through interrupted and spoiled streets, and it's not so easy to find, also because the signals don't explain exactly how to reach it. Not far from a dump, in the middle of nothing, the Martella district is populated by endless works in progress. All the original buildings by Ludovico Quaroni, which featured the structure of the typical Matera's cave-house (with stall and habitations close) have been rejected by abusivism and never ended constructions.

Original Briefing

How has "Italy's Shame" been transformed in the recent past?

Italy’s Shame. After years of endemic poverty and the problems of plumbing, one Italian prime minister made this pronouncement about the city of Matera, ''la vergogna nazionale," Italy’s Shame. Carved from the living stone, the city’s caves have been inhabited by cavemen and troglodytes, Romans and Pagans, Catholics and Communists before being largely abandoned in the ‘50s following the erection of new buildings on the outskirts in an attempt to wipe Italy’s shame off the map. The distinctly cinematic site has been used by dozens of films, most recently by Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ to depict Jerusalem. Yes, it’s that ancient looking. Though many complain that the old center is being overrun with tourists, the abandoned caves are also filling with servers as a high tech industry takes advantage of the natural cool of cave life to keep their computers running. Everyday new boutique hotels open in the area trying to keep apace with the increasing demand. Both Matera and its intended replacements, specifically the village of Martella, have changed dramatically over the years, especially recently.

Gallery

Italy’s Shame. After years of endemic poverty and the problems of plumbing, one Italian prime minister made this pronouncement about the city of Matera, ''la vergogna nazionale,” Italy’s Shame.

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