Matera, Italy, is a favorite filmmaking spot

I don’t know what I expected from this Rome trip. I do know that I wanted to try to work from here, which necessitated that I get an Internet connection. Which was troublesome. And expensive. And it turns out that it doesn’t work well enough to make it easy to do any actual work … tough to do things I need to when you can’t maintain a steady connection.

Ah, well, I let all that go this weekend so that Mary Pat and I could drive south to the region of Basilicata where we stayed in the town of Matera . Known for the Sassis, cave dwellings in which Matera citizens lived until the middle of the 20th century, Matera is one of the more picturesque cities I’ve encountered in Italy.

And, as it turns out, I haven’t been the only one. Some 26 films have been shot in and around Matera, the most recent being Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” in 2003. But the list of filmmakers includes the likes of Pier Paolo Pasolini (“The Gospel According to St. Matthew,” 1964), Lina Wertmuller (“I Basillischi,” 1963), Bruce Beresford (“King David,” 1985) and Giuseppe Tornatore (“L’Uomo delle stelle,” 1995).

The trip, which takes about five hours to drive from Rome, is definitely worth the trip. Make sure you have a good map, though. Finding your hotel, especially if you stay in the Sassi district, is no easy feat.

Below : Shots from “The Passion of the Christ” in which you can see Matera in the background.