A sudden cover of white snow magnified the natural beauty of the Italian city of Matera, the city of caves and slopes, shortly after the start of the new year. But a few days later, the day before yesterday, the city was inaugurated as "the second capital of European culture" Of 2019 ».
The inauguration of the second European Capital of Culture came about a week after the launch of the European Culture Capital of 2019 in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv. For a whole year, the authorities of the two cities have been working hard to provide diverse cultural programs that contribute to their cultural identity, highlighting European culture and their role in strengthening the European architecture.
The "European Capital of Culture" initiative aims to shed light on the diversity of cultures across the continent, their common denominators, and the enhancement of the profile and image of European cities on the world stage.
Matera, located in Basilicata, southern Italy, has entered its European cultural year with the slogan "Open Future", highlighting the manifestations of social and cultural integration and collective innovation. The city will organize many events, exhibitions and programs on the role of the region in the development of art and architecture in the Renaissance.
Matera, Italy's second-largest city, earned a bad reputation as a "disgrace." The Italians lived in cave dwellings in Sasso Cafeso and Sasso Parizona until the 1950s, under poor health conditions. Residents raise animals indoors and share sleeping quarters until 1952 when the government issued a law to forcibly evict and renovate the houses and take care of old caves.
But the shame of the past has turned into the "miracle" of the present, when a decision was made in 1986 to restore and preserve the cave dwellings. Less than a decade later, in 1993, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) announced that the city had been included in the World Heritage List in 1993 and had developed a program to revitalize the city to make it a tourist attraction.