Stunning photos of the Italian city of Matera and its architecture

Italian photographer Federico Scarchilli explores Matera and shows us the impressive, unique architecture of this ancient city in southern Italy. Matera is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It is known for its cave dwellings, which in recent years have turned into luxurious cave hotels.

Today, Matera is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the city is also named the European Capital of Culture in 2019. In addition, this place has a very rich and sometimes very tragic history. The historical center of Sassi has always been a neighborhood of the poor, and in the post-war period, the population here declined sharply due to an incurable disease spreading in the caves. In the 50s of the last century, people were forced to leave Sassi, they settled in modern apartments in new areas of the city. But today this trend is changing.

Enterprising Italians began to turn caves into hotels and in every possible way to develop a tourist destination in Matera. Blurred photographs of Scarchilli, bathed in white shining light, perfectly show all the splendor of architecture and art in the city.

A true miracle of the prehistoric world, Matera is a very "stubborn" city that does not give up. Continuing through difficult times, he shows his extraordinary beauty to the world.

“Matera is a city, community, cohesion and willpower. Matera should be an example, because it is a symbol of life: the difficulties from the very beginning that brought it to the bottom, the nickname“ City of shame, ”and then the desire to stand up and atone the past, "says the photographer.