Chiafura. A rupestrian disctrict in Sicily between the Medievale and Contemporary Ages

Chiafùra is the toponym of a neighborhood with around a hundred cave dwellings on the edge of the city of Scicli, in south-eastern Sicily. From a necropolis to a rupestrian city, the site was inhabited from the Middle Ages until the second half of the twentieth century, when the last cave dwellers were moved to new public housing. Contributing to the success of this final initiative were the denunciations of several artists and intellectuals (including Renato Guttuso, Carlo Levi, and Pier Paolo Pasolini), who in 1959, after a visit to the cave dwellers, ensured that the Chiafura issue resounded across the nation.