Matera is a city in the south of the southern Italian region of Basilicata about 30 kilometers north of the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The city's cave dwellings have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993. Matera is located on a karst plateau above the deep valley of the Gravina di Matera at about 400 m above sea level. On the walls of this gorge, the residents dug caves in the soft tuff, which were used until the 1950s. In addition to residential buildings, there are numerous churches and monasteries.
The area was settled as early as the Neolithic. In 938 the place was destroyed by the Saracens. The town began to rise in 1043 and became the Norman royal seat. Later the place came under the control of various local nobles. From 1806 until the last administrative reform, the city was the capital of the province of Basilicata, today it is only the administrative seat of the province of the same name, which makes up about half of the Basilicata region.
The cave dwellings were considered a national disgrace and were evacuated in 1954. Around 20,000 people lived here at that time. They were relocated to the newly built districts of La Martella, Venusio, Borgo Picciano A and Borgo Picciano B (source: Wikivoyage)