La conoscenza per il recupero dei ‘valori’ del passato: il caso della chiesa della Madonna delle Vergini a Matera

The boundary of the Park of the Rupestrian Churches in Matera, UNESCO World Heritage Site, is characterized by an historical and anthropological value in which the signs of man are strictly related to the signs of nature. It includes the Church of the Madonna delle Vergini (caved into the stone as a lot of dwellings in the Sassi and mentioned in documents as far back as the 16th century), the only rupestrian church open to cult of faithful until today. A place of historical and artistic memory, it is a synthesis of the territory's settlement modalities that describe the changes of times and cultures. In it are expressions of ancient popular traditions, now lost. These traces, in their ‘fragile’ testimony, represent an opportunity for study and critical and multidisciplinary analysis necessary for a design approach aimed at recovering the values of the past, reinforcing new scenarios for the enjoyment of material and immaterial values, belonging to the religious and rupestrian culture.