Umm... so this time I can say I have dropped the ball. I still have more from the southern trip to show you as well as Spring Break stuff.

Southern Trip Continued-

Stop 6: Lecce-
Lecce is one of the farthest south towns in Italy, firmly placed in the heel of Italy's boot. The stone that is found in Lecce is unusually soft, which was used in just about every building built out of stone. Due to the nature of the stone, the denizens of Lecce became extremely expressive in their sculpture and architectural ornamentation. Likewise, this ease of sculpting fostered a culture of facetiousness regarding said ornamentation. This was the church attached to the governor's house, not even the cathedral. The uber-ornateness of the entire city coupled with its super soft stone made it feel like I was walking through a TV set or something. Not my favorite town.

Stop 7: Massafra-
So this stop was primarily for a Masseria, a fortified farm basically. Kind of boring to tell you the truth, but interesting because we got to learn about the olive oil making process. The farm was actually huge and the land that they owned was enormous. Here's a picture of the olive oil presses that we saw, dating back at least a few hundred years.

Stop 8: Matera-
Okay folks, this one is the real deal. This town was just absolutely astonishing. Basically, the town, which is right at the edge of a ravine, was made primarily from cave dwellings. These cave dwellings have been dated back to the neolithic time period, but were inhabited right up until the 1950's (CE)! During the Iconoclasm, many monks came here from Byzantium carrying priceless Byzantine icons. The caves were designed in way so that every room would receive at least some daylight, including the far back rooms. They developed in a way that they were initially cisterns which were then changed into rooms. Each dwelling is based off of a courtyard comprising a basic social unit of families. These units, also known as "vicinati" helped the families support each other as well as protect each other. When we arrived, surprisingly, the city looked more modern than most of the cities we visited on the way to Matera. The bus parked in a lot near the center of town. We got out and started our walk to our hotel. I noticed that the teachers were actually more excited than the students because most of us didn't know what to expect. Anyway, after we continued to walk through what seemed to be an ordinary modern town in Italy, we stopped at a small arcade that opened into a terrace overlooking a dip in the landscape. Although it was dark, the amber street lamps told me that the undulating landscape I was looking at was made entirely of tile roofs and stucco walls! The tiny buildings appeared to have been built on some ocean frozen during a tempest. The only building distinguishable from the rest was the cathedral on the top of a hill. We continued to walk into the 'Sassi,' which is the name for the neighborhood which has been built into the ravine. As we later found out, the stone pulled from the caves was then used for the buildings that cover the entrances. Our hotel (lobby seen here) was actually a collection of sassi caves chosen simply for its location near the lobby cave. The other rooms were accessible via the winding streets that strung the vicinati together. I honestly don't know what to say about the hotel, other that it was incredible. Just go and live in a cave. Try it out. Incredible. You'll know what I mean.

Okay so these pictures aren't everything. Even what's in my flickr, really isn't everything, but check it out please! You need to see the pictures to understand what I'm talking about! This stupid tiny thumbnails don't do the space justice! And neither do the full sizes, but they come closer. Matera was really breathtaking.