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The Sassi and the Park of the Rock Churches of Matera UNESCO

Surely one of the most spectacular rocky landscapes of Italy testifies to the ancient relationship between man and nature, is located in Basilicata, in Matera a few kilometers away from the border with Puglia.

The Regional Natural Archaeological Park of the Rock Churches of Matera, more simply called the Park of the Murgia Matera, it is characterized by a soft rock formed by deep furrows that form cliffs, gorges, caves, ravines used by the man who took office since prehistory. It is between the districts placed between the SS 7, the S.P. Matera-Ginosa-Montescaglioso and S.S. 175.

The man has populated the Murgia since prehistoric times, with stabling Paleolithic (Cave of Bats) and Neolithic era (village Murgecchia, Murgia Timone and Trasanello). Numerous testimonies of these phases are preserved at the National Museum "Domenico Ridola" in Matera, while testimonies of greek period (VIII-VII century BC) and Roman (from III to C.) emerge more numerous on the side of Montescaglioso.

It is assumed that during these centuries the territory was murgico domain of shepherds and herdsmen who lived in small villages derived from the adaptation of small natural caves.

The flora of the Regional Park of the Murgia Matera includes 923 species, or about one sixth of the national flora and a third of that region: a remarkable number for an area of ​​about 8000 hectares.

One hundred species are rare and extremely rare including many entities of irradiation-eastern Mediterranean, 61 of those reporting new for the flora of Lucania, and 36 endemic species and subendemiche that those entities with areal consists of geographic areas rather limited.