Considered one of the oldest cities in the world - right after Aleppo and Jericho - and home to not one, but two UNESCO World Heritage Sites — the Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches, both recognized in 1993 — Matera is a place that feels like it belongs more to the realm of dreams than reality. It’s where the mind drifts off, breaking free from the mundane to embrace something more surreal, distant, and intangible.

A stage for human life since the Paleolithic era and a backdrop for films like Mel Gibson’s The Passion (2004), Pier Paolo Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964), and Cary Fukunaga’s No Time to Die (2021), Matera is also a hub for contemporary sculpture and photography, as seen in the MUSMA (Museum of Contemporary Sculpture of Matera) and the "Pino Settanni" Photography Museum.