232 valerie ramseyer
at this time came to be seen as a national disgrace and a symbol of peasant oppression.
With the sophisticated infrastructure and complex water-management system of the
earlier Matera forgotten, mid-twentieth century textbooks in Italy portrayed the city’s
cave houses as primitive and unhealthy. Finally, in the 1950s the Italian government
evacuated the Sassi and relocated the population into newly-built above-ground
housing in new neighborhoods (Laureano, 1993: 156–166).
Modern-day prejudices toward troglodyte settlements and cave living has kept the
phenomenon largely hidden and little studied until recently. The growing interest in
troglodyte settlements over the past few decades has led to new attitudes toward cave
living, as scholars have come to understand the intelligent design of the settlements
that responded well to local conditions, created comfortable living spaces for the
inhabitants, and allowed populations to live harmoniously with their environment.
Moreover, architects today in some parts of the Mediterranean, such as Spain, are
rediscovering the many advantages of building in caves and rock and are beginning to
introduce new types of troglodyte residences. Constructing cave houses requires less
manpower and less energy than masonry buildings, and does not rely on the use of
scarce or imported resources. In addition, since cave dwellings maintain constant
interior temperatures year round, residents can usually forgo heating in the winter and
air conditioning in the summer, creating the ultimate green house. Although today
troglodyte settlements and buildings in the Mediterranean are mostly linked to the
tourist trade, there could be a renaissance of troglodyte living in the future, combin-
ing old and new cut-rock architectural techniques.
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