🏛️ The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera
UNESCO World Heritage Site of rock-cut churches and troglodyte settlements in Basilicata, Italy
📋 Fast Facts
- Inscribed as UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993
- Two districts: Sasso Caveoso and Sasso Barisano, carved from soft tufa rock
- Contains hundreds of rock-cut Byzantine churches dating from the 9th to 13th centuries
- Continuously inhabited since prehistoric times; revitalized in recent decades after 20th-century decline
The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera, located in the Basilicata region of southern Italy, represent a remarkable example of human adaptation to landscape and geological constraint. The site encompasses two distinct yet interconnected components: the Sassi—a complex of cave dwellings carved directly into the tufa rock—and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches, a network of rock-cut churches and monastic settlements carved into the surrounding Murgia Materana plateau ...