Matera

Matera is a city within the province of Matera inside the area of Basilicata, in Southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Matera and became the capital of Basilicata from 1663 to 1806. The town lies in a small canyon carved out with the aid of the Gravina. Known as l. A. Citta Sotterranea, Matera is one of the oldest constantly inhabited cities in the international, having been inhabited because the tenth millennium BC. Its historic centre "Sassi", in conjunction with the Park of the Rupestrian Churches, turned into awarded World Heritage Site status by way of UNESCO since 1993. On 17 October 2014, Matera was d Italian host of European Capital of Culture for 2019 collectively with the Bulgarian town of Plovdiv.

The region of Matera has been settled for the reason that Palaeolithic. The city changed into allegedly founded by the Romans in the 3rd century BC, with the name of Matheola after the consul Lucius Caecilius Metellus. In AD 664 Matera turned into conquered by means of the Lombards and have become part of the Duchy of Benevento. In the seventh and eighth centuries the close by grottos had been colonised by using each Benedictine and Basilian monastic establishments. The 9th and tenth centuries had been characterized through the war among the Byzantines and the German emperors, consisting of Louis II, who in part destroyed the city. After the agreement of the Normans in Apulia, Matera become ruled through William Iron-Arm from 1043.