Painting by Carlo Levi (1902-1975) titled ' Lucania 61' representing the people of Matera in 1961. Matera; south Italy; spectacular city of the 'Sassi' (stones) in October 2018; selected as the European Capital of Culture 2019. Matera is one of the oldest human settlements in the world. Ancient爃abitations燿ug into the爐uff爎ock爋f a chalky plateau open up around a hollow;爐he燝ravina; traversed by a torrent that flows in this unique city in the Region of燘asilicata.燭hroughout history in the walls of a deep ravine; the Gravina; thanks to the stone's malleability; man has carved caves which were used as shelters; cowsheds; sheepfolds; water cisterns; oil-mills; wine-cellars; churches and dwellings; and used the excavation material to build external staircases connecting the various levels; the roofs and the caves; creating a brilliant system fort the collection and conservation of rainwater. Roofs by turns become the foundations for new habitations on the levels overhead. A dense lattice of narrow streets and alleyways fill up with the lights of the evening; giving off the impression that one is strolling through a燦ativity爏cene of papier-mache. This is燤atera; European Capital of Culture 2019; where the燫upestrian燾hurches燼nd uber-famous燬assi; the very peculiar settlements carved into the rock; were named a UNESCO燱orld Heritage Site爄n 1993.燭he zone was already inhabited during the燩aleolithic燛ra; when the first settlements were established in these calcarenite grottoes. The Sassi are visually reminiscent of ancient sites in and around Jerusalem; and for this reason they have been used in many Christian-themed films; including The Gospel According to St. Matthew (Pier Paolo Pasolini; 1964) and The Passion of the Christ (Mel Gibson; 2004).