Matera

Matera, Italy is an ancient town with cave dwellings showing evidence of been inhabited as early as 7000 BC. The streets in some parts of the town run on top of other houses. In the 1950s, the government of Italy forcefully relocated most of the population living in caves to areas of the developing modern city. Beset by extreme poverty and riddled with malaria, the unhealthy living conditions were considered inhuman. However, Matera is the only place in the world where some people can boast to be still living in the same houses of their ancestors of 9,000 years ago.