In the remote southern Italian region of Basilicata is the unique and ancient cave-city of Matera, famous for its sassi, stone houses carved out of the caves and cliffs. In the remote southern Italian ...

Once known for their squalid living conditions, the prehistoric limestone warrens have been repurposed as lodgings, bars, and artist workshops. Would staying there feel extraordinary or tasteless?

It’s difficult to imagine that Matera’s ancient warren was known not too long ago as “the shame of Italy” for its dismal poverty. In the 1950s, the entire population of roughly 16,000 people, mostly ...

In the southern region of Basilicata lies Matera, a town nestled in a small canyon where humans have lived for millennia in cave dwellings. Writer Dave Thurmond explains why Matera is one of the most ...

It dates back to the stone age and forms one of the earliest human settlements in Italy - and is still inhabited. Looking like a scene from the Flintstones cartoon, Sassi di Matera, which teeters on ...