"It seems that Matera overlooks an uncovered and inhabited subsoil, which together forms a larger city. Such a gathering of semi-cavemen, in which the existence of prehistory is uninterruptedly prolonged, has no parallel in Europe, and is among the Italian landscapes that generate the most amazement. Crisscrossed by rocky valleys, Matera is a kind of Siena of the South, more remote in time [...] (p. 747)"