The film recounts the rebirth of Matera, from its origins as “Mathera” to today as the 2019 European Capital of Culture.
Over centuries, two distinctive neighborhoods were created, the Sasso Caveoso and the Sasso Barisano, consisting of a patchwork of homes dug out of grottos — some burrowed dozens of feet within the earth — and finished off with tufa brick facades.The cave homes, clustered on top of each other, were inhabited by peasant families and their livestock.
Once a shameful symbol of Italy's postwar poverty, it was forcibly depopulated in the 1950s (in all, about 30,000 people were relocated). In 1993, the Sassi were inscribed in UNESCO's World Heritage List as "the most outstanding, intact example of a troglodyte settlement in the Mediterranean region, perfectly adapted to its terrain and ecosystem.
Today, Matera is one of the most desired and unique tourist destinations in Italy.