"Long view across ""la Gravina"" ravine to the Sassi of Matera at sunrise, Basilicata, Italy. A UNESCO World Heritage site.<br /> <br /> The area of Matera has been occupied since the Palaeolithic (10th millennium BC) making it one of the oldest continually inhabited settlements in the world. <br /> The town of Matera was founded by the Roman Lucius Caecilius Metellus in 251 BC and remained a Roman town until  was conquered by the Lombards In AD 664 becoming part of the Duchy of Benevento.  Matera was subject to the power struggles of southern Italy coming under the rule of the Byzantine Roman, the Germans and finally Matera was ruled by the Normans from 1043 until the Aragonese took possession in the 15th century. <br /> <br /> At the ancient heart of Matera are cave dwellings known as Sassi. As the fortunes of Matera failed the sassy became slum dwelling and the appalling living conditions became be the disgrace of Italy. From the 1970's families were forcibly removed from the Sassi and rehoused in the new town of Matera. Today tourism has regenerated Matera and the sassi have been modernised and are lived in again making them probably the longest inhabited houses in the world dating back 9000 years."
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