{"id":4373,"date":"2014-10-23T09:30:08","date_gmt":"2014-10-23T07:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.italygreentravel.com\/?p=4373"},"modified":"2014-10-22T18:24:01","modified_gmt":"2014-10-22T16:24:01","slug":"matera-european-capital-culture-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ecobnb.com\/blog\/2014\/10\/matera-european-capital-culture-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Matera is European Capital of Culture 2019: what to visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few days ago the EU awarded Matera the title of European Capital of Culture 2019<\/strong>.
\nThis international reward is the final step in a long process which, over the last five years, has turned Matera from one of the poorest and lesser known Italian cities into one of the most popular tourist destinations.
\nIn 1993 Matera had already been awarded the title of Unesco World Heritage Site<\/strong>.
\nBut it was the cinema industry<\/em> which first caught the incredible potential of Matera and its surrounding areas; many film directors, both Italian and international, chose Matera as the suggestive setting for their shoots.
\nThe Italian intellectual Pier Paolo Pasolini<\/em>, born in the far north east of Italy, picked this far away area of South Italy to shoot \u201cThe Gospel after Matthew\u201d<\/strong> in 1964. Franco Rosi also chose the location to film \u201cChrist stopped at Eboli\u201d<\/strong> and, last but not least, Mel Gibson wanted his Christ to move through a Jerusalem in the Sassi of Matera in his \u201cThe Passion of Christ\u201d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

So, aside from film shooting, what makes Matera and its surrounding area so enticing and worthy of its new found title?<\/p>\n

I sassi<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Since the dawn of time, the inhabitants of the small village known as Matera have lived in caves of tuff instead of building houses in wood, stone or straw.
\nThese small or large caves have always been known as \u201cSassi\u201d<\/strong>, which is Italian for stones.
\nIntense urbanization in the 50\u2019s brought about an increase of the number of people living in the Sassi with a consequent decrease of the living conditions. Matera became the shame of Italy. Italian institutions forced people to evacuate the Sassi and moved out to condominiums and small, independent, purpose built houses.
\nThe Sassi were then completely left abandoned.
\nRecently though, many Sassi have been turned into cool hotels, B&Bs<\/em> and buildings aimed at bringing in tourists, which has brought the ghost town back to life.
\nIt\u2019s got a suggestive feel during the day, when the sun\u2019s rays reflect on the striking white tuff walls. The view at night is moving: the little windows and doors shine with small, warm, trembling lights coming from hotel rooms and restaurants and you can\u2019t but help feel like you\u2019re in front of a real life Christmas scene.
\nIt\u2019s hard not to lose track of time and reality, walking up to the old city centre known as Civita, through winding lanes and steep stairs.<\/p>\n\n\t\t