Down near the heel of southern Italy is an area which has had dwellings for about 9000 years. In the old city of Matera, known as the Sassi di Matera, there are ancient houses carved into the rocks. In some places, the roadways run along the roofs of the dwellings below.
At one time this was considered to be an area of considerable poverty because the houses weren't fit for habitation, and people who were living there had to relocate to other areas. Since then it has been recognised as an area of cultural importance and added to UNESCO's World Heritage List, and now has a thriving tourist industry.
Amazing! It looks derelict in the postcard view. Do you know the date of the postcard? According to Wikipedia the area is now thriving.
ReplyDeleteIt was sent to me just two years ago. There's no way of telling how old the image is, of course.
DeleteOh, interesting...I've been to Italy a few times and I've never heard of this place. Putting it on my to-do list....it kind of reminds me of Cappadocia in Turkey.
ReplyDelete