It’s a timeless spot that reminds of distant places. Long stone brickworks are spread on a wavy land covered in olive trees and all of a sudden you are on the ridge of a deep cut in the soil, a canyon leading to Matera, the magic city of stones. It overlooks one of the most famous “gravine” that feature this charming city that matches the pride of being the European capital of culture this year with a landscape that wraps visitors in a mystic dimension. The erosion has been creating these amazing Karstic formations along the centuries, they still keep important signs of the ancient times and they have been creating unique rocky villages with their cultivated terraces that have always attracted the human presence. Carlo Levi dedicated many pages of his works to this area of Italy that has recently become a tourist attraction but there’s still a lot to be told and discovered.