History and Le Dodici Lune (The Twelve Moons)Located in the heart of Matera’s “Sassi” (“the stones”), Le Dodici Lune is the perfect place from which to absorb evocative scenery which takes you back 10,000 years in time. So much so, that Matera’s Sassi and park of the rupestrian churches are listed by Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) as world heritage. Unesco describes them as “the most outstanding, intact example of a troglodyte settlement in the Mediterranean region …. . The first inhabited zone dates from the Palaeolithic, while later settlements illustrate a number of significant stages in human history. Some experts consider Matera to be the oldest city in the world. Le Dodici Lune is located in the “Sasso Caveoso” (south-facing part of the Sassi, structured like a roman amphitheatre with cave dwellings following the valley side), near the ancient wall that surrounded the city during the 6th century Longobardo rule, under which the underground constructions, originally defined as cave-houses, appeared.