Matera: A Southern Italian Town Revives Its Ancient Cave Dwellings (9,000-Years-Old)

Mercury News ^ | 7-17-2006 | Carol Pucci

[blam]

GGG Ping.

[Polybius]

....were forced by the government to evacuate in the early 1950s after Italian artist and writer Carlo Levi published an account of the squalid living conditions where they lived, not in regular houses, but in thousands-of-years-old cave dwellings

"You though we were just made up for a commercial, didn't you?"

[MineralMan]

Houses like this, dug into the sides of hillsides, are common in parts of Turkey as well. Many of them are still occupied. Indeed, such dwellings are found pretty much everywhere on Earth where the hills are of limestone. In a way, they make very good sense. They're cool in Summer and warmer in Winter. They take very little building materials, and some are quite large.

[SaxxonWoods]

Thanks, blam, very cool. In Italy, it is said that you can't dig a hole without hitting history. Construction projects in Rome seem to take forever as work must stop each time something interesting is uncovered, and that happens constantly.

[MineralMan]

Here's a good photo of the place discussed in the article:

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam.

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[blam]

Excellent picture, thanks.

[Sabatier]

Neat story.

[Adder]

Very interesting.

My grandmother said she lived in just one such place...she called it a cave with a door.
Outside, the street was cobbled and there was a church of regular construction.

Poor people lived in poor digs. Just the way it was.

[MAexile]

I saw something like this outside of Rome when we were in Italy last year. I tried to get a pic but it went by so fast, and I wasn't willing to ask the guy to stop.

I was told told they were unoccupied, but not for how long.

[Ciexyz]

Bump for antiquities.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Ping.......

[Kaylee Frye]

Very cool, thanks for posting. I'm trying not to romanticize it in my head, although it's easy to do.

[Alas Babylon!]

Hey, Blam, I've actually been to Matera!

Back in 1991 when I was stationed at San Vito Air Station in Italy (see my home page). We had dinner (very, very good) in a restaurant built in a cave.

[blam]

"Hey, Blam, I've actually been to Matera! "

Excellent. What an experience.

[Fred Nerks]

Beware of the do-gooders, they will have you and your family thrown out of a nice warm cave and sent to an urban slum.

[ValerieUSA]

Sounds like better living conditions than the Anasazis enjoyed here in North America, yet there is such a romantic view of their lifestyle as a mystical and fascinating culture.

[Docbarleypop]

there is a town just outside of syracusa sicily that people still live in caves. not sure what the name of the place is but it was interesting none the less

[ASOC]

Sounds like La Cueva (The Cave) a fine restaurant in Nogales, Sonora - just across the border.

Anyone else eat in a cave?