Cultural
The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera
Matera
Inscribed 1993
Photo : Jules Verne Times Two (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Located in the Basilicata region of southern Italy, this site encompasses the historic settlement of Sassi and the surrounding rupestrian churches carved into the limestone plateaux of Matera. The Sassi district represents an exceptional example of human settlement adapted to a Mediterranean landscape, with dwellings built into and carved from the rock itself, creating a distinctive urban fabric that reflects centuries of habitation and adaptation. The site also contains numerous church structures hewn directly from the rock, many of which feature Byzantine and Romanesque artistic elements, particularly notable frescoes dating from the medieval period. The combination of the inhabited cave dwellings and the religious rupestrian architecture demonstrates an important phase in Mediterranean settlement patterns and artistic development. Inscribed as a Cultural World Heritage site in 1993, the site is recognised for its outstanding universal value as testimony to settlement systems and construction techniques from prehistoric times through the late medieval period, preserved within a substantially intact urban landscape.
Location
Matera
Inscription
1993
