The movie places in Matera

Because of its particular landscape Matera has been the perfect backdrop for many movies from the 50’s to nowadays. The dry and rocky sweeps of the city has always been the perfect setting to Biblical movies: Matera and its glimpses has become the place where Jesus Christ was born and lived. One of the first director who noticed the potential of this territory was Pier Paolo Pasolini, he made his movie “Vangelo secondo Matteo” (1964 – The gospel according to saint Matthew) in Matera, in particular in the Sassi area and in Gravine. Bruce Beresford too made his King David (1985) here, up to Mel Gibson’s “Passion of the Christ” (2004). Gibson said that he had never seen Pasolini’s movie, but he returned on the same places where the Italian director set his movie (Porta Pistola, Murgia and Gravina). The fame of Matera as ideal place to transpose the facts of 2000 years ago, has given a strong impulse to the tourism too. Every year numerous tourist go visit the open set of art film.