Matera
The Sassi of Matera are two quarters of Matera, the Sasso Caveoso and the Sasso Barisano, formed by buildings and rocky architecture carved into the rock of the Murgia of Matera and inhabited since prehistoric times.
In 1993 they were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Together with the Civita district (built on the spur that separates the two Sassi), they constitute the historic center of the city of Matera. The term "Sassi" refers to the two quarters that constitute, together with the "Civita" and the "Piano", the historic center of Matera. The plural declination, therefore, derives from this duplicity and not, as many believe, from the fact that a dwelling or a room within these districts is called "stone". The Sassi are arranged around and at the bottom of two valley grooves, shaped by the passage of water, channeled into the so-called "grabiglioni" [1] on the bottom of the same.
The Sasso Barisano, located along the road that went out of the city towards Bari, turned to the north-west, contains sculpted portals and friezes. The Sasso Caveoso, which faces south towards Montescaglioso, recalls the shape of a theater's cavea, with the houses arranged in steps. Inside there are various neighborhoods, districts and districts named as follows: u lammòrde, u paravèse, u pendàfeche, u mòlve, u chianèdde, u casalnàve. To divide the two valleys rises the rock of La Civita, which houses the Romanesque Cathedral. At the foot of the Civita and at the upper edge of the Sassi lies the Piano, the post-medieval historical center, beyond which lies the post-displacement Matera.
On the opposite side of the Gravina di Matera, there is the Murgia plateau, with rupestrian churches scattered along the slopes of the ravines, part of the institution of the Murgia Materana Park and protected by it. "Natural caves, underground architecture, cisterns, enormous enclosures, farmhouses, churches and palaces, succeed and coexist, excavated and built in the tuff of the ravines" writes Pietro Laureano in his book Giardini di pietra.