# Sassi di Matera: 1993, 1952, and the ZTL now > The Sassi were listed by UNESCO in 1993 and emptied under a law of May 17, 1952. Today they sit inside a ZTL closed 10 am to 1 pm and 5 pm to 9:30 pm. URL: https://myitalia.it/attractions/sassi-di-matera Last updated: 2026-09-02 The Sassi of Matera have been on the UNESCO World Heritage list since 1993, and the districts you walk through were legally emptied under a law of May 17, 1952. ## 1993, and 1,016 hectares The listing covers the Sassi and the park of the rock churches of Matera, inscribed in 1993 under cultural criteria iii, iv and v, with a core zone of 1,016 hectares and a buffer zone of 4,365 hectares, reference 670. Note what the name contains. The listing is not only the two cave districts inside the city: it takes in the ravine and the rock churches on the far side, which is why the buffer zone is four times the core. A note on sourcing: whc.unesco.org returns 403 to every automated request, so the areas and criteria here come from the Italian culture ministry's UNESCO office. ## Law 619 of May 17, 1952 Law 619 of May 17, 1952, titled Rehabilitation of the Sassi districts in the town of Matera, imposed the clearing of dwellings declared uninhabitable and funded the move of their inhabitants. Article 7 governs how a dwelling is declared uninhabitable and sets the deadlines, fixed by the mayor, for leaving it. Article 14 let people buy their new homes on 35-year instalments. The consequence ran for decades: the Sassi were progressively emptied, and only started to be lived in again from the 1980s. ## 700 million and 4,500 million lire The law put 700 million lire behind expropriations and public works for 1951 to 1955, and 4,500 million lire behind public housing for 1951 to 1957. The ratio between those two figures is the policy in one line. Six and a half times more money went to building somewhere else than to touching the Sassi themselves. That is the fact behind the new districts on the plateau above, which most visitors never see and which are the other half of the story. ## The number that is not in the law 1 figure repeated everywhere does not appear in the legal text: the 17,000 people said to have been moved, two thirds of the city. It circulates in the press and on general sites. It is not in law 619 and it is not recorded here as fact. The law text was read in full, though on a private legal publisher rather than on Normattiva. ## The ZTL: yellow, blue, green The yellow zone covering the Sassi is restricted every day from 10 am to 1 pm and 5 pm to 9:30 pm. The blue zone around the Duomo and San Biagio is closed 24 hours a day. The historic center has a green zone with 3 sub-areas, Mercato, Prefettura and Centro, on seasonal timetables. Loading and unloading in the urban pedestrian areas is allowed 7 am to 10 am and 2 pm to 6 pm, holidays excluded. Exemptions cover authorized residents, emergency vehicles, disability permit holders, electric vehicles and taxis, depending on the zone. The base rule is municipal ordinance 291 of August 27, 2014. ## Check the ordinances before you drive 1 warning from the data itself: the municipal open data record was updated on August 9, 2026, but the KML and GeoJSON boundary files still date from 2014, and the city issues supplementary ordinances on the Sassi regularly. So treat the times above as the standing rule and the albo pretorio as the current one. A ZTL fine in Italy can reach you at home months later, with the rental company's admin fee arriving first. If your accommodation is inside the zone, ask the owner to register your plate before you arrive, not after. For the region, see [Basilicata](/regions/basilicata). ## FAQ ### When did Matera become a UNESCO site? In 1993, as the Sassi and the park of the rock churches of Matera, under cultural criteria iii, iv and v. The protected area covers 1,016 hectares of core zone and 4,365 hectares of buffer zone in Basilicata. ### Why were the Sassi emptied? Under law 619 of May 17, 1952, on the rehabilitation of the Sassi districts. Article 7 let the mayor declare dwellings uninhabitable and set deadlines for clearing them, and the state funded new housing. Repopulation only began in the 1980s. ### Can you drive into the Sassi of Matera? Not freely. The yellow zone covering the Sassi is restricted every day from 10 am to 1 pm and 5 pm to 9:30 pm. The blue zone around the Duomo and San Biagio is closed to traffic 24 hours a day. ### How much money went into clearing the Sassi? 700 million lire for expropriations and public works between 1951 and 1955, and 4,500 million lire for public housing between 1951 and 1957. Article 14 let residents buy their new homes on 35-year instalments. ### Is the Matera ZTL information reliable? The base rule is municipal ordinance 291 of August 27, 2014, and the open data record was updated on August 9, 2026, but the map files still date from 2014. The city issues extra ordinances often, so check the albo pretorio. ## Sources | Fact | Source | Confidence | Valid until | |---|---|---|---| | I Sassi e il parco delle Chiese rupestri di Matera sono iscritti nella Lista del Patrimonio Mondiale UNESCO dal 1993 per i criteri culturali (iii), (iv) e (v); l'area tutelata copre 1.016 ettari di core zone e 4.365 ettari di buffer zone | [Ministero della Cultura - Ufficio UNESCO](https://unesco.cultura.gov.it/projects/matera/) | medium | 2099-12-31 | | La legge 17 maggio 1952 n. 619 'Risanamento dei rioni dei Sassi nell'abitato del comune di Matera' impose lo sgombero delle zone dichiarate inabitabili e finanzio' il trasferimento degli abitanti con 700 milioni di lire per espropri e opere pubbliche (1951-1955) e 4.500 milioni per alloggi popolari (1951-1957) | [Edizioni Europee (testo integrale della L. 619/1952)](https://www.edizionieuropee.it/law/html/1/zn14_04_010.html) | medium | 2099-12-31 | | A Matera la ZTL dei Sassi (zona gialla) e' attiva tutti i giorni 10.00-13.00 e 17.00-21.30, mentre la zona blu Duomo/San Biagio e' interdetta 24 ore su 24 e il centro storico ha una zona verde con limitazioni stagionali; la disciplina di base e' l'Ordinanza dirigenziale n. 291 del 2014 | [Comune di Matera - portale open data](https://dati.comune.matera.it/dataset/ztl-e-apu) | medium | 2027-06-30 | ## Image https://media.myitalia.it/media/poi.sassi-di-matera.1600.jpg Author: Jules Verne Times Two. License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:View_of_Sassi_di_Matera,_Matera,_Italy_(PPL3-Altered)_julesvernex2.jpg ## Other languages - it: https://myitalia.it/it/attrazioni/sassi-di-matera.md - es: https://myitalia.it/es/atracciones/sassi-di-matera.md - fr: https://myitalia.it/fr/attractions/sassi-di-matera.md - de: https://myitalia.it/de/sehenswuerdigkeiten/sassi-di-matera.md