Matera is an extremely ancient city, the territory of which holds evidence of human settlements from the Paleolithic era to the current day. The area is characterized by valleys and rocky terraces shaped by the Gravina river, forming a real canyon where on one of the sides rises the most ancient urban structure: the “rioni Sassi” or Sassi districts.

The city is renowned throughout the world for these ancient districts, recognized in 1993 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site (the first site of Southern Italy to receive such recognition). Matera seduces and involves the human soul, with its rupestrian and hypogeal churches, caves and stately buildings, arches, and its balconies which stand out for style and uniqueness and breathtaking views. A historical artistic condensation of spaces created out of the tuff.
The feeling is that of being inside a nativity scene and living in another era, so much so that some great Masters of Cinema have chosen to set their films in this suggestive natural setting.
Matera is at the center of an incredible rocky landscape that preserves a great heritage of culture and traditions, and it is home to exhibitions of great national and international prestige.

Matera is a city with a fascinating and complex history: a border town made of stark contrasts, landscapes, cultures and different civilitazione, all competing and blending with each other. From the rock civilization of Byzantine and Eastern origins, to the coming of the Normans, systematic attempts took place to adapt the “rock city” to the rules of the European city: from the Romanesque, to the Renaissance, to the Baroque, the last eight centuries of construction and finishing of the city have tried to shape, to overcome the natural resistance of the pre-existing rocky habitat, determining architectures and urban arrangements of particular quality and originality.