Matera’s obscurity ended in 1945, when the Italian artist and author Carlo Levi published his memoir Christ Stopped at Eboli, about his year of political exile in Basilicata under the Fascists. Levi painted a vivid portrait of a forgotten rural world that had, since the unification of Italy in 1870, sunk into a desperate poverty. The book’s title, referring to the town of Eboli near Naples, suggested that Christianity and civilization had never reached the deep south, leaving it a pagan, lawless land, riddled with ancient superstitions, where some shepherds were still believed to commune with wolves. Read more: smithsonianmag.com/travel/mater-went-from-ancient-civilization-slum-hidden-gem-180949445/#vdUoYoLKjPxyAZzY.99 #Matera #italy #inolvidable #indimenticabile #wonderwoman #lavittaebella #volvere #suditalia #travel #italy #instravel #instaphoto #instamoment #roma