Matera

Sister cities

• Vigevano
• Toronto

History

Before its integration into the modern Italian state, the city of Matera had experienced the rule of the Romans, Lombards, Arabs, Byzantine Greeks, Swabians, Angevins, Aragonese, and Bourbons. Although scholars continue to debate the date the dwellings were first occupied in Matera, and the continuity of their subsequent occupation, the area of what is now Matera is believed to have been settled since the Palaeolithic (tenth millennium BC). This makes it potentially one of the oldest continually inhabited settlements in the world. Alternatively, it has been suggested by Anne Toxey that the area has been "occupied continuously for at least three millennia". Built on an entrenched prehistoric village, the town is likely to have Greek origins. In the times of Magna Graecia, Matera shared a close relationship with the Greek cities on the southern coast, becoming a trade and transit route in Roman times.Then the town of Matera was established by the Roman Lucius Caecilius Metellus in 251 BC who called it Matheola. In AD 664, Matera was conquered by the Lombards and became part of the Duchy of Benevento. During the seventh and eighth centuries, the nearby grottos were colonised by both Benedictine and Basilian monastic institutions. After the Arab conquest of Bari in 840, Matera came under Islamic rule. Emancipated from the old Lombard jurisdiction of the gastald of Acerenza in the Principality of Salerno, the town gained regional prominence. In the spring of 867, it was burnt by the imperial troops of Louis II as the first key target in the emirate's conquest; the Chronicle of St. Benedict of Monte Cassino calls it a particularly well-defended site. The Franks soon fell out with the Lombards and the Byzantines, exploited the local need for protection from Arab raiding…