My birthday in Matera

I celebrated my birthday with a restful day in Matera, a city that has been continuously inhabitiated for 10,000 years.  A city that not very long ago was considered the slum of Italy, even of Europe.  A city that has used it's history to become revitalized.

We are staying in the B&B Sassolino which is down in the Sassi of Matera.  Matera is built on two hills, rather in two hills, that people long ago dug out the limestone to live in the caves.  The Sassi is the lowest part of the city, the true slum, whereas the top of the hills where the main churches are and represent the more affluent peasants.

I have real mixed emotions about Matera and the Sassi as a whole.  Its hard to fathom that just 70 years ago the population of Matera was still living caves.  I mean caves, really?  The infant mortality rate was 50%, the sanitation was horrendous with garbage on the streets, but the people had community and mostly wanted to stay.  The government was embarassed so they came in, built new apartment buildings, imposed regulations on living in the caves, and forced people to move into the apartments or upgrade their cave at a steep price.  Naturally these poor folks had no money so over 70% were forced to move into the new government housing, losing their home as the governemnt took over.  As I think about the true role of government, libertarian that I am, I'd suppose that this falls into the "promote the general welfare" responsibility of government and that the success now of the town validates the governmental take over.  That said, for me having the government take your home and force you to move is really a tough pill to swallow.

Sassi from across the ravine, look at all the little cave openings:

 

Politics aside Matera is a pretty cool town.  Morgan's makes fantastic pizza and has about the friendliest wait staff you will ever find.  We enjoyed a couple meals there, tasty pizza I tell you.

We took a tour of the Sassi with Andrea, he was really knowledgeable and I'd recommend hiring one of these guys if you visit.  On a side note I think this is the perfect vehicle for the lower Keys, one of the non-chariot models, these Piaggio's are awesome.

 

Matera by night is really cool as well, although my photography leaves something to be desired:

 

 

My birthday was nice, thanks Kathie!!