The Matera town is located on a plateau made of Mesozoic limestone covered by a Pleistocene bioclastic calcarenite, moderately cemented and easily mouldable, as shown by the presence of the well-known cave-houses of the Sassi area. Water management has always been a central issue throughout the history of the city: for millennia, urban development has guaranteed the balance between humans and environment. Climate changes coupled to anthropic interventions sharply compromised such a relationship
