A project to promote the importance of the natural and cultural heritage of the underground environment in southern Italy

Occupying the natural underground spaces, or excavating the rock mass to create new voids, has been since very long times the most typical habit for ancient populations in large sectors of the Mediterranean Basin. The underground environment offers shelter (from adverse climate, and enemies), possibility to hide (but also to control the surrounding territory), provides natural resources such as water, ores and minerals, protects livestock, and allows to keep working even when outside very hot climatic conditions are present. For all the above reasons, in Basilicata and Apulia regions (S Italy), where most of the land is of karst origin, living underground is testified in about all the past civilizations. The huge natural and cultural heritage related to the underground has never been fully exploited so far. In this area, one of the most well-known sites is the town of Matera (recently designated as the 2019 European Capital of Culture). The urban history and development of Matera is strongly linked to the use of the underground space, which is still inhabited and represents the main attraction for tourists. Its urban setting is well integrated with the natural landscape, characterized by deep karst valleys, on which flanks houses, storage rooms, worship sites, and work places have been realized. In the recent past, it was also considered as a negative example, quite far from the new development and technology of the modern society. Nevertheless, most of the solutions used by ancient civilizations were highly technological: for instance, the way to collect and transport water, to keep some hydric reserve also during the dry season, were extremely ingenious. Starting from the idea that several lessons could be learnt from the past civilizations, five institutes of the National Research Council of Italy (CNR) have recently started a joint project, aimed at exploiting the cultural heritage represented by the underground environment in S Italy. The CNR institutes involved in the project cover different fields related to the study of the underground: from direct explorations and engineering-geological analyses addressed to evaluation of the stability of underground voids (IRPI), to geophysical surveys for identification of voids, and characterization of the subsurface (IMAA, IBAM), to urban history and evolution (ISSM), to archaeological representations through modern technologies (IBAM), and to protocols for the integrated valorisation and management of the cultural heritage (ICVBC). In this contribution, the first activities jointly carried out by the CNR Team are presented and discussed, as an example of multi-disciplinary effort aimed at reaching a high level of knowledge, and at providing fundamental information and data to stakeholders, technicians, and local administrations, in order to safeguard the natural and cultural heritage, and enhance and use it in the most proper way.