It includes fortifications, stone dwellings, a Byzantine church, water cisterns and olive and grape presses.
Centuries-old stone dwellings with mysterious renderings of wild men and mountain goats are etched into white facades.
The islanders have long since given up their cramped stone dwellings and turned to tourism and primitive painting.
Mel Gibson is here now, using the craggy landscape and rudimentary stone dwellings, known as "sassi," as sets for "The Passion," a movie he is directing about the last 12 hours in Jesus' life.
After a van ride up to the Veronica Glacier, at more than 14,000 feet, bikers descend 5,000 feet on smooth tar road, passing llamas, traditional Andean stone dwellings and rarely visited Incan sites on the way.
Some of the stone dwellings in the old part of Matera, a farming and furniture-making city of about 55,000 people in the arch of Italy's boot, date back to before Jesus's time.
Most abundant in the Valle d'Itria, just north-west of Salento, these small beehive-like stone dwellings give the landscape the appearance of having been scattered with upturned ice-cream cones.
The villagers have erected three rows of sturdy stone dwellings with tin roofs up on the shoulder of the volcano, but it was the adjacent canyon that I wanted to visit, because I'd heard about the petroglyphs carved by ancient inhabitants all along its walls.
It's far from comfortable living, but far better than many slum settlements I've seen - with solidly built stone dwellings, neat and brightly painted - and everyone has basic services like electricity, water and sewage.
We rest beside a community well that's set near the many stone dwellings.
