Laundry Day in Matera.Italy

by Jennie Breeze

Title

Laundry Day in Matera.Italy

Artist

Jennie Breeze

Medium

Photograph - Original Img_1763

Description

Matera is a city and a province in the region of Basilicata, in Southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Matera and the capital of Basilicata from 1663 to 1806. The town lies in a small canyon carved out by the Gravina. Known as "la Città Sotterranea" (the Subterranean City), its historical center "Sassi", is considered a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since 1993. On 17 October 2014, Matera was declared Italian host of European Capital of Culture for 2019. The city was allegedly founded by the Romans in the 3rd century BC. Matera has gained international fame for its ancient town, the "Sassi di Matera". The Sassi originated in a prehistoric troglodyte settlement, and these dwellings are thought to be among the first ever human settlements in what is now Italy. The Sassi are habitations dug into the calcareous rock itself, which is characteristic of Basilicata and Apulia. Many of them are really little more than caverns, and in some parts of the Sassi a street lies on top of another group of dwellings. The ancient town grew up on one slope of the rocky ravine created by a river that is now a small stream, and this ravine is known locally as "la Gravina". Until the late 1980s the Sassi was considered an area of poverty, since its dwellings were, and in most cases still are, uninhabitable. The present local administration, however, has become more tourism-oriented, and it has promoted the regeneration of the Sassi with the aid of the Italian government, UNESCO, and Hollywood. Today there are many thriving businesses, pubs, and hotels there. Because of the ancient primeval-looking scenery in and around the Sassi, it has been used since 1985 by filmmakers as the setting for ancient Jerusalem. Famous motion pictures filmed in Matera include: Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2004). Cyrus Nowrasteh's The Young Messiah (2016). Timur Bekmambetov's Ben-Hur (2016). Patty Jenkins's Wonder Woman (2017). Matera appears in the music videos for the songs Sun Goes Down(2014) by Robin Schulz and Spit Out the Bone(2016) by Metallica.

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July 9th, 2015

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