09/23/2026
Traveling Towel inside a Matera cave (Italy).
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It’s one thing to see Matera from above. It’s another to step inside the rock and discover how people actually lived here.
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These caves weren’t just shelters — they were homes carved deep into the limestone, sometimes with entire families and their animals sharing the same space. Stables and feeding troughs could sit alongside kitchens and sleeping areas, while other caves were used to store food, water and even wine.
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For generations, this was everyday life in the Sassi.
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And remarkably, people were still living in these cave homes in the 1950s. A 1952 law ordered the evacuation of the Sassi because of overcrowding and poor sanitary conditions, and by the late 1950s most residents had moved into new neighborhoods.
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Standing deep inside one of these caves today, with the rough rock still surrounding you, it’s hard to imagine that this was once someone’s home, pantry, cellar and stable — all in one.
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Thousands of years of history, carved into stone.
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Traveling Towel — going beyond the view to discover the stories inside it. 🤍
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