@JamieFobert
For the past few days the JFA team have been exploring Matera, Basilicata, Italy, an ancient city carved out of the tufa (soft limestone) cliffs of a steep ravine. For thousands of years the people of Matera lived in Sassi, cave homes, and worshiped in churches carved into the cliffs. Poverty and disease propelled the Italian government to forcibly drive the people from these homes into a New Town built on the plateau above. In 1964 the abandoned city was used as the setting of Jerusalem in Pier Paolo Pasolini’s ‘The Gospel of St. Matthew’ (6th image). But in the past decades the old city has come back to life, maybe with a few too many hotels and restaurants, but the fabric is extraordinary. A single material city of immense beauty. The churches carved in tufa with fragments of frescos dating back to the 10th century were so moving.
And the laughter of the team at our Xmas dinner and late night Christmas quiz (thanks to @thomas_longley) made it all the more wonderful.
#matera #city #architecture #caves #fresco #stones #italy #magical