JANA WENDT

Journalist and writer

Jana Wendt negotiated the slippery stone stairways of the Italian city of Matera for our feature on page 158.

The labyrinthine city is characterised by its sassi, or caves – first inhabited in the Paleolithic era, largely abandoned by the 1950s, and progressively restored in the past few decades. “Matera’s history spoke to me at every turn,” she says. “Little wonder directors including Pier Paolo Pasolini and Mel Gibson chose Matera as the location for their biblical epics.”