The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera

Carved directly into the limestone flanks of a ravine in Basilicata, the cave dwellings of Matera have sheltered people since the Palaeolithic — a claim to continuous habitation few places on Earth can rival. The Sassi districts, together with a park of rock-hewn churches, earned UNESCO World Heritage status in 1993 as the Mediterranean's best-preserved troglodyte settlement, its stacked houses, cisterns and stairways moulded to the terrain rather than imposed upon it.