Darwinism on a Sunshiny Winter Day in Italy

In my travels along the labyrinthine byways of Matera's Sassi neighborhoods, I encountered a woman out on a front stoop, smoking a cigarette & watering flowers in a pot. 

               Byway with a view

We greeted each other & before you know it, I was inside what turned out to be her office. She's the Minister of Culture in Matera & a journalist. Her English was modest & my Italian non-existent, yet we had a fascinating conversation about the history of Matera people -- not ancient history, but living history -- about the genetic & economic conditions that shaped the lives of people here.

The lovely & knowledgeable & friendly Sissi of Sassi  

She asked if I know why the Sassi dwellings are devoid of the colorful, often extravagant architectural embellishments so common elsewhere in Italy. I didn't know. It's because Matera people didn't have time or the inclination for frivolity.

                             The Sassi are notable for their monochromatic color tones

Survival has always been difficult here -- it's arid, brutally hot in summer, mosquitoes are rampant, & the people have a widespread genetic disorder called thalassemia that causes pain, suffering, & death. The gene for this blood disease thrived because it makes people resistant to malaria, because of the shape of the red blood cells. Over time, through Darwin's survival of the fittest, Mediterranean people are now largely untouched by malaria (though they still suffer from thalassemia).

These are Sissi's words, via Google translate:

"Matera is a city where people have learned to survive. No water, only the stored rain, very hot, and Malaria, Mediterranean anemia, this, blood disease avoided people to die of malaria. The diseased red blood cells, they did not have malaria. Mediterranean anemia is a dominant DNA. This is the reason why so many people here were sick of luxurious (wrong word, I'm sure) Mediterranean anemia. Some patients survived this Thalassemia & gave children protection of malaria. He who die alone only has both parents with gene. Today very few people suffering from thalassemia. Malaria is no more, and they check births to prevent other children born with thalassemia. Parents malatio the advice not to have children. sick people avoid having children. To treat thalassemia there is only blood transfusion ... every day of life ... a hard life."

            Young people in Puglia are educated early about the dangers of thalassemia 

Then there is the matter of survival within the Sassi themselves. These ancient cave dwellings look so romantic & picturesque to travelers, but by the 1940s were considered a blight on the reputation of Italy -- a place of tremendous poverty & neglect & backward living. 

The Matera Historical Society created a Sassi dwelling with original furnishings, to give visitors a sense of what it was like to live here.

        Even as late as the 1950s, farm animals lived inside the house with their master

                                  It all looks rather darling & cozy

Fortunately, a documentary photographer shot many photos of Sassi life in 1962

                       It doesn't look so great

 In fact, it looks poor & depressing. I know from staying in a cave hotel that rooms are cold & damp.

                                              Everyone worked     

        This family's living room is out on the street

                                Or maybe this is how they socialized 

In 1952, the Italian government began a 10-year process of forcibly removing all Sassi inhabitants, relocating them in more modern areas of Matera, where many still live today with their descendants. In 1962, at the end of the forced removal, a local artist created an enormous mural, now in a local museum, with his interpretation of the end of the era of families living in the Sassi, as they had since time immemorial.

                   This mural is the entire length of a cavernous room

                The artist painted real townspeople. See the man in the center with the cane?...

                  Here he was in real life

                                     See the woman with the white headscarf?..

                  Here she was in life

The government planned to destroy the entire Sassi area -- blow it all up. A small group of artists began a movement to save the Sassi. This movement grew & prevailed, & today the Sassi are again inhabited by local Matera people & a growing collection of very upscale B&Bs, restaurants, & enotechas (wine bars). 

Darwin, the father of wine bars.