Maratea
Ancient city on the Gulf of Policastro, girdled around by mountains rising above the pleasant valley, echoing the
voices of its outlying hamlets, Maratea is the only portion of Lucania on the Tyrrhenian Sea, where it stretches
for about 30 km, astride the provinces of Cosenza and Salerno.
Although the birth of the town cannot be dated with absolute precision, there are some unmistakable indications.
For example, its name and several other place-names (Calicastro, Racia, Profiti, Filacara, Santavenere) would justify
situating it in or around the Greek period, as recent archeological discoveries appear to confirm. Whereas the name
and origins certainly go back to the Greek colonization, the most ancient document on the city, a bull of Alfano
I, Bishop of Salerno, dates from the year 1079.
In subsequent centuries Maratea would have followed the political fortunes of southern Italy, always, however,
managing to obtain from successive dynasties of the Kingdom of Naples numerous privileges for its freedom-loving
people.
Social Program
The conference excursion on Thursday 11 of July will bring the conference participants to the wonderful city of Matera. Known as "the underground city", its historical centre "Sassi" contains ancient cave dwellings from the Paleolithic period.
Sassi, along with the park of the Rupestrian Churches, was awarded World Heritage Site status by UNESCO since 1993.
Matera is Italian host of European Capital of Culture for 2019.
Matera has gained international fame for its ancient town, the "Sassi di Matera". The Sassi originated in a prehistoric troglodyte settlement, and these dwellings are thought to be among the first ever human settlements in what is now Italy. The Sassi are habitations dug into the calcareous rock itself, which is characteristic of Basilicata and Apulia. Many of them are really little more than small caverns, and in some parts of the Sassi a street lies on top of another group of dwellings. The ancient town grew up on one slope of the rocky ravine created by a river that is now a small stream, and this ravine is known locally as "la Gravina". In the 1950s, as part of a policy to clear the extreme poverty of the Sassi, the government of Italy used force to relocate most of the population of the Sassi to new public housing in the developing modern city.