The cave dwellings in Matera have been lived in for centuries. They were inhabited until the 1950s when the Sassi dwellers were relocated to more modern housing.
Life was pretty grim in the early 1900s. The residents suffered from malaria, dysentry, eye infections, starvation and malnutrition. Caves were dug into the edges of the ravine where large families lived with their animals.
Now that the residents have been moved out of the ravine onto higher ground the old cave houses have been turned into hotels, shops and restaurants.
There are a few that have been maintained as they would have been. We visited one while we were in Matera.
This old photo is an entrance to a cave house.
We entered the house into one small room with a tiny kitchen off to one side. It had one bed, so I guess everyone crowded into that.
This is a well, there was water stored below the houses…a lot easier than carting it from an external well.
At the back of the room was a stable where animals would have been kept. This would have helped to keep the family warm in winter, but probably didn’t smell all that fresh. At least in a cave the temperature variations over the seasons wouldn’t have been too extreme.
As I said, life must have been grim. The house looks quaint, but filled with children of various ages and animals it would have been crowded and chaotic. I wonder how the people felt when they were moved to their new houses.