From national disgrace to cultural heritage and international film set. The case of Matera (Italy)

The change in Matera was born when it was declared a ‘national disgrace’ by De Gasperi and the ‘the shame of Italy’ by Togliatti . While Italy was recovering and developing from the Second World War, Matera had an agricultural identity. This case was brought to light in the book ‘Christ Stopped at Eboli’ edited by Carlo Levi and others sociologists, anthropologists and began to be seriously interested in the city until the laws on ‘Risanamento dei Sassi’ started a process of renewal, bringing Matera to UNESCO Heritage. A cultural and architectural change supported the ability to be natural film set. An intuition of Carlo Lizzani emerged with Pier Paolo Pasolini and its ‘Il Vangelo secondo Matteo’, Mel Gibson with its ‘The Passion’ until ‘Ben-Hur’ in 2014. Now Matera is an open-air movie set, a city full of art, history and architecture. It is unique and part of the world's heritage