Matera

And this was such a blessing because not every cast member and crew member got a chance to do this.

But I got to go to Italy and film in Italy for three weeks last year, which was a life-changing trip to be able to go to Matera, which is a 10,000-year-old city.

And you can see the history just in the sides of the mountaintop and It's where the Passion of the Christ was filmed and other faith based films because it just looks like it's the right Jerusalem kind of city with all the stone and all that everywhere.

So that was a real, real privilege to do that.

And I remember even in Montreal where I could find the channels, like I could find Rai Italia and I would watch Serie C games like that.

Matera against Regina, to tell you.

And that's when I really understood I wanted to go play in Italy.

And then I did my first trip when I was 14.

and there is a train but you can't get to a lot of the smaller towns So if you have a car, you can go to these incredible villages, which have incredible places to eat and just walk around that you can't get to on train.

Also, if you have a car, you can drive to the next state over from Puglia and go to see the incredible town, like we did, of Matera.

And Matera is where they filmed Passion of the Christ.

It's also the opening scene of a James Bond movie.

One of the recent Daniel Craig ones is filmed in Matera.

Absolutely amazing.

It looks like, going back in time, half of it is built into these caves.

I've never really, I've never been to that area before.

So I'm going into Bari and then we'll be going to Matera and exploring the whole area.

So I am just very excited.

And it's, you know.

So I'm very excited and honored to do this because I do sell so much Italy.

And I'm really excited to check out a region I've never been to and bring this all back to my clients.

Any clients, I sent clients to Matera, to Sassi this time.

And I even put them in the same hotel I stayed in.

And yeah, I was not mad about the food ever.

And then Matera is this did you? Yeah, so this was in

transition.

So driving from from Puglia to Calabria is sort of an all day affair.

And so we broke up the trip with a stop in in Matera.

And this is widely considered to be the third oldest inhabited city.

I think I'm saying that right.

So I went to Italy and I went to a different completely nada que ver city.

It's called Matera.

So it's one of the oldest cities in Italy.

That's insane, Louis.

Where, sorry? In Italy.

Oh, okay.

So it's a city called Matera.

Okay.

It really is one of the most charming aspects of this particular region.

Now consider that if a trullo was used as a residence, the domestic reality inside is not that different from what you might find in a place like let's say matera now matera which is not in puglia it's right over the border in the neighboring region of basilicata which has also become a very popular destination mainly because of its appearance in various motion pictures like mel gibson's the passion of the christ or like James Bond, I think it's No Time to Die, the beginning of the movie shot in Matera.

But anyway, Matera, which we will discuss in a future podcast, is famous because it is home to the longest inhabited dwelling places in the world.

People have been living in the caves of Matera for the last 9,000 years.

And when you visit those caves, what you realize is that the reality is very similar to what you'd find inside of a true low.

And that is a kind of single space where an entire family would live, usually with their livestock, because they didn't have the luxury of having a stall.

At times, it's staggeringly well-made, isn't it? You know, the beautiful stuff that you're seeing on screen.

Matera is an incredible location.

So is, you know, Cuba and Jamaica, you know.

This also belies the fact that I really, there's elements of the first half of the film that I really do like.

I remember

either straight after or I'm not first hours as good as it's been first

hours great yeah I totally thought so aside from Matera I will be honest I don't like Matera

stuff