Paul Paulicelli, better known for "DANCES WITH LUIGI" and "UNDER THE SOUTHERN SUN", wrote an article about Matera as the setting for Gibson's movie without taking a position on the film itself - He wrote that his thinking was that since so many people had gone to see that film, they might be interested in knowing where it was shot and a little about the history and background of what is probably the oldest city in all of Europe.

Undoubtedly, some of the recent millions of movie goers to Mel Gibson's "The Passions of the Christ." have wondered about the sets or the location of the film.

Most of the exteriors were done in Matera, Italy, the largest city in the Province of Matera in the southern Italian state of Basilicata. (Think instep of the "boot" of Italy along the Ionian Sea -- Matera is about twenty miles inland in a triangle between Taranto and Metaponto).

Even in Italy, Matera is not a household name. Americans are generally unfamiliar with the place, yet Matera is probably the oldest city in all of Europe, or at least the site of the longest continuing inhabitation by human beings. Man starting living there at least 7,000 and quite possibly as many as 10,000 years ago.

A Stone Age settlement, the terrain was formed by an ancient river which ran through the soft, porous rock called "Tufa." Erosion formed two large hills or "Sassi."

[RAA: Remember that "tufa" is that which was mined from beneath Naples, to build Naples.]

Some bright caveman one long ago day realized that the hills of rock were easily cut into, and dug a dwelling into the hillside. It obviously became a popular notion as thousands of such cave homes were subsequently made. The caves offered cool in the broiling summers of "Il Mezzogiorno," or the most southern part of the Italian mainland, and protection in the often cold and snowy winters.

Over the millennia, the thousands of caves became more and more elaborate with interior and exterior additions which included flooring, framing of walls and doorways, walkways, entry ways, etc. An accurate description of the Sassi all but defies words, suffice it to say that today the Sassi look like an elaborate beehive of stone built dwellings scattered over two hillsides with a deep valley running in-between.  A huge iron Crucifix tops a stone mound in the center of the two hills.

The Tufa is a whitish tan in color. The dwellings and streets that traipse throughout the landscape range in hues of bright white to sepia tone, depending on the angle of the sun. All of the roads are paved in worn Tufa, the same rock the ancient Greeks and Etruscans first used in sculpture. They shine bright white in the midday.

In keeping with Mel Gibson's theme of the crucifixion of Christ, the city has been a site of religious worship for as long as recorded history. The many hills and caves in the surrounding area provided a perfect place for hermits and monks during the Dark Ages, some of the earliest Christian murals were painted in the caves and, in more modern times, the city has been home to several monasteries and nunneries.

The Sassi achieved a dubious literary fame when Carlo Levi published his "Christ Stopped at Eboli" immediately following the Second World War. Levi devoted a mere six pages to the Sassi in his classic work-mostly through the words of his medical doctor sister.

That description of the Sassi is the only one that is widely known by the modern world. It is not flattering. It describes a place of unrelenting poverty, filth and disease. Partly as a result of Levi's work and the newly established democratic government in Rome following the Second World War, the Sassi were depopulated in 1947.

The residents who survived the war were provided with public housing on the surrounding high ground. The Sassi were left to wandering stray dogs and vandals for
the next several decades. The howls of the dogs at night were the only
eerie sounds of the place for nearly fifty years.

In the 1990's, the Italian Government realized the historical significance of the strange and abandoned hillside homes and began an urban redevelopment campaign to modernize and re-inhabit the ancient section of Matera. It offered funds to those of a pioneering spirit to rebuild the ancient homes. In addition, UNESCO named Matera and the Sassi as one of only five cities in all of Italy to be preserved so that future generations can better understand the past. UNESCO calls the city an "international treasure."

Yet, despite all of the progress made in Matera in recent years, a day in the Sassi is a day in the long ago past. The Gibson film company's choice of this location is obvious; even with modernization, electrification and plumbing, the look of the place has changed little since before the time of Christ.

Strolling about the alleys of the Sassi, one can't help escape the sense of history and passage of time.

Especially when you consider that the Sassi were old when Stonehenge was being dragged into place, when Kind David decided to build his Temple, when the Greeks came to settle along the Ionian coast. Matera and the Sassi are an evocative journey into the meeting point of past and current civilizations.

Paul Paulicelli's Two books are SO great and SO inexpensive, from a max of $17 for new, to a low of $4 for used, you can't afford NOT to add these to your Library.
Your Family, Children, and Relatives will thank you!!!!!!

Amazon.com: Books: Under the Southern Sun: Stories of the Real Italy and the Americans It Created
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312287658/qid=1093416312/sr=ka-1/ref=pd_ka_1/103-8848440-1040639

Amazon.com: Books: Dances with Luigi : A Grandson's Search for His Italian Roots
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0312283806/qid=1093416312/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/103-8848440-1040639?v=glance&s=books