{"id":150638,"date":"2026-08-14T07:33:54","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T07:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/designjaap.com\/?p=150638"},"modified":"2026-08-14T08:19:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T08:19:12","slug":"photography-the-city-of-matera-in-southern-italy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/designjaap.com\/?p=150638","title":{"rendered":"photography the city of Matera in Southern Italy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Matera<\/a>, a rare jewel of Basilicata, is an enchanting miracle of time. Visiting this Lucanian city is like reliving a glorious past. It resembles a small and delightful nativity scene, which is why it is known as ’the second Bethlehem’, providing a backdrop for films such as Pier Paolo Pasolini’s The Gospel according to St. Matthew<\/em> and Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Matera<\/a>, a rare jewel of Basilicata<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The symbol of the city are the \u201cSassi\u201d, caves dug into the mountain where the local people lived until they were forced to settle in modern accommodation in the 1950s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The history of Matera\u00a0goes way back to Palaeolithic settlements, while the first\u00a0Neolithic pottery in Matera<\/a>\u00a0dates back to around 7500 years BC, when terracotta pottery was produced in the villages. Built on an entrenched prehistoric village, the town is likely to have Greek origins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It hosted key immigrations of Byzantine and Benedictine monks, who transformed the caves of the huge Gravina valley into rock churches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the settlement of the Normans in Italy, the city enjoyed a period of peace, followed by famine and earthquakes. The people of Matera have never been afraid to make themselves heard: they were the first in the south to rebel against Nazi occupation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1952, a national law called for the evacuation of the Sassi, considered the \u201cshame of Italy\u201d due to overcrowding and unsanitary conditions, and the construction of new residential districts to develop a new city area. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is a photographic impression of the city of Matera<\/a> in Southern Italy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matera, a rare jewel of Basilicata, is an enchanting miracle of time. Visiting this Lucanian city is like reliving a glorious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-150638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-berichten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/designjaap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/designjaap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/designjaap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/designjaap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/designjaap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=150638"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/designjaap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":150646,"href":"https:\/\/designjaap.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150638\/revisions\/150646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/designjaap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=150638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/designjaap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=150638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/designjaap.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=150638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}