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Matera (m. 401 above sea level) still bars the unique signs of history and prehistory. Dating as far back as the period of the Punic Wars, Matera sheltered the fugitives of Metapontum and Heracles. Thus, its name may derive from the combination of the first three ketters of the names of the villages above mentioned (Met-Era), even if most scholars claim that it cold also derive from "Mata", which means "heaps of rocks". According to some people, Matera, that used to be part of Apulia, was probably founded in 251 b.C. by Metello (a Roman consul) who called it Matheola. It is only in the 9th century that this theory was confirmed by some more reliable information. In time, after the succession of various rulers, the "Tramontanos" came to reign by investiture on behalf of Ferdinand of Aragon. On 29 decembr 1514, during a popular uprising, Count Giovanni Carlo Tramontano was killed because of his cruelty towards the peasants. Matera was the Capital of the region from 1663 to 1806, when Joseph Bonaparte transferred this prestigious role to the town Poetnza. Matera is the residence of the archbishop and boats the important 13th-century Cathedral well as the churches of S. Domenico, S. Giovanni Battista, S. Francesco d'Assisi, S. Chiara, Purgatorio, S. Francesco da Paola and many others, whose characteristic architecture represents the different ages and their fine workmanship. Matera has been the capital of the province since 6 december 1926. The "Sassi", the ancient quarters of Matera and the facing Murgia Plateau are now inscribed on the World Heritage List on behalf of Unesco, a patrimony belonging to all mankind.
The particular characteristic of the land, its morphology and that of the Murgia Platau of Matera, between the 8th and the 13th centuries, en couraged the development of an intense monastic movement that found the ancient cave-dwellings as the ideal habitat for monasteries and rock-hewn churches since they reproduced the original pattern of those existing in their own countries. Throughout the countryside of Matera there are more than 130 rock-hewn churches, some of them are underground churches, whereas the others are carved into the rock integrating with the outside constructions that witness the presence of Latin and Greek/Byzantine monastic cultures in Matera, their meeting point throughout the centuries. |
1. Cristo La Selva 2. Madonna degli Angeli |
