Our Australian Aboriginals can claim continuous occupation of areas for periods of 40,000 years... a long time.
The good folks of Matera can't go anywhere near that limit... but put up a sterling effort by European standards... 9,000 years. We had a quick look in some of the cave dwellings... some seem to have the original fixtures and fittings... as they say in the trade... a renovator's delight.
The old part of town is called 'The Sassi' and originated from a prehistoric (troglodyte) settlement... suspected to be some of the first human settlements in Italy. The Sassi are houses dug into the calcareous rock itself... some "houses" are really only caverns, and the streets in some parts of the Sassi often are located on the rooftops of other houses. The ancient town grew in height on one slope of the ravine created by a river that is now a small stream. The idea of building on the side of a ravine was to be invisible to other tribes looking for trouble. That was the initial idea... but carting water from the bottom of the ravine got beyond a joke... and smart citizens started to build elaborate aqueducts... to make life easier. Goodness knows what a marauding tribe thought when they saw an aqueduct running along a ledge... halfway down the ravine. The goal of being hidden was compromised.
The modern town of Matera was glad the Sassi was hidden... it was an embarrassment. During the periods of malaria epidemics, the Sassi was severely affected. In the1950's, the municipal leaders had had enough... they forcibly removed citizens living in the Sassi... for resettlement in the modern town. You guessed it... half of them wouldn't be pushed around... in short measure... they repacked their bags... and moved back into the Sassi. The usual steps in modern history followed... UNESCO declared the area to have world conservation value... tourists now flock to the area and now buy trinkets from cave shops at ridiculous prices.
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