Matera calls UNESCO

Here it is a copy in English of the open letter we already sent to several Italian Institutions in January 2021.

Our aim was, and still is, to create awareness about what is happening in the immediate surroundings of Matera, where a large part of the site inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List is now subject to considerable building works that are severely altering its shape, characteristics and contents. Annexed to this letter, you shall find a selection of photos documenting our appeal.

This letter is also a request for support and help in the defence of a site that, as it rarely happens, offers a superb concentration of nature, history, art, manifestations of human capabilities and beliefs across eras, together with examples of long-lasting coexistence between human communities, animals and plants in an environment which was until recently respected. These are precious and evocative examples of the epochal challenges that humankind must face to reconcile lifestyles and production systems with the safety and health of the planet.

We are now addressing directly the UNESCO Headquarters and some of their related specialised Units, Divisions and Committees because we strongly believe that, if no action is taken, the situation in Matera can evolve into a case of reputational risk for UNESCO.

The UNESCO World Heritage recognition is not, in our opinion, only aimed at giving notoriety and global fame to places previously known exclusively to experts or niche travellers. Also, it cannot and should not be confined to marketing the brand of a site to the widest touristic circuits with the purpose of maximising economic returns for local communities.

However, despite UNESCO’s best intentions, this is what we perceive is happening in Matera. At the time of the city’s application to the list of World Heritage Site List, in Matera UNESCO was perceived as an Institution endowed with strong reach and influence. Now that the site has joined the List, in the public eye those powers have been downgraded to soft ones, providing little sway against decisions taken by national or local governmental institutions.

Without change, we shall bear witness to the paradoxical effect that, by granting the site official recognition, UNESCO has involuntarily accelerated its deterioration and, step by step, also the fading and disappearing of other sites judged, only few years ago, worthy of exploration, study and conservation in the interest of humankind.

While we write, the works on the Murgia Plateau near Matera are rapidly advancing. Together, citizens and Institutions, we must not remain silent.

We hope UNESCO will heed the urgency of our plea, as our purpose of preservation coincides with UNESCO’s purpose in creating the World Heritage List. We need UNESCO voice, through all the instruments UNESCO will consider appropriate.

It is our true belief that even a simple UNESCO public statement would go a long way in finding a rapid and sound solution.

Open letter to UNESCO and other Institutions - Text

Michele, la guida dei sassi (1982, per la regìa di Franco Mazzoccoli)