In this incomprehensible Matera, in 2019 the European capital of culture, in mid-November 2021 we have to see the Rioni Sassi (Unesco heritage since 1993) smeared by the desperation of unknown persons in search of free entertainment
Hieroglyphs and phrases written in several areas of both the Barisano and Caveoso districts. For many months they have been noticed insane engraved on the wall near the Casa di Josè Garcia Ortega: a former Lombard fortress located in a dominant and highly suggestive panoramic position, it houses twenty polychrome bas-reliefs that the Spanish artist created in Matera in 1975.
Yet the Sassi are protected by many state laws (for example n.771 of 1986) and local and non-local institutional entities in charge of the most elementary control and protection.
“Without forgetting that our tourism will have a future if we do not forget that it lives on our ability to preserve, that is, at least not to waste cities of art, historical places and traditions that successive generations over many centuries have been able to preserve and have handed down to us … Investing in tourism, supporting tourism does not mean throwing money away. That money comes back “.
Words scanned by the Prime Minister Mario Draghi during the presentation of the Government Program in the Senate.
On 15 June 1978 Pietro Consagra, sculptor, in the Letter to the Friends of Matera writes:
“Let’s defend ourselves from ugliness. The bad is just a waste of possibilities. A better result doesn’t always require more expense. Even if he required it, the material gain for health would be incalculable. Fantasy is free. Beauty is not a superfluous but a necessity. We claim a city of what is necessary: a city as a garden of intelligence “.
In the hope that a mayor or councilor or city councilor of Matera or any association will seriously take care of the minimal urban decor in the Rioni Sassi.
The photos taken on Sunday 14 November 2021.
