The sassi or stones of Matera aren't plain old caves but rather neighborhoods of dug out homes. They were first inhabited in the Stone Age and lived in until the 1950s. And while the sassi are a World Heritage Site now they were a national disgrace just 60 years back. Life in these limestone caverns was hardly like your own. The one-room cave-dwellings housed a family of 10 and served as a stable for a donkey, chickens and sometimes a pig. Each grotto had a big tank called a cistern for collecting rainwater and a wood-burning stove for cooking meals. The sassi didn't have toilets, sinks or even showers. Most had no windows; the front door was the only source of light and only source of air. So why did the people of Matera live here for so long? It was cheaper and easier and to dig a home out of the soft rock than build a brick and mortar house.