The lively city of Matera, deep in Italy's south, is the new home to the country's first museum devoted to modern sculpture - MUSMA .
The museum, housed in the city's 18th-century Palazzo Pomarici, has a collection of 270 works by 200 different Italian and international artists .
"It's a gem," said Culture Minister Francesco Rutelli at the inauguration .
The variety of both figurative and abstract sculpture spread out over an area of 1,300 square metres is enormous. Materials used range from bronze and marble to plaster and papier-mâché .
Pieces by Pablo Picasso, America's David Hare and Italian greats like Giacomo Manzu' and Pietro Consagra are among those on display. Visitors are greeted by a huge sculpture entitled "Grande Genesi" (Great Genesis), which was created in 1960 by Antonietta Raphael (1895-1975), a founder of the anti-fascist Scuola Romana movement .
One of the highlights is a small lithograph by Picasso entitled Portrait from Behind. The museum is currently staging an exhibition on Pericle Fazzini (1913-1987), which was organized specially for the inauguration. MUSMA has a specialist library too, with over 3,000 books on modern and contemporary sculpture .
Matera, in the southern region of Basilicata, just above the instep of the Italian boot, is one of Italy's fastest growing cities thanks to its cottage industries, farming and farm-tourism .
Tourism, in particular, has been enjoying a boom in recent years, thanks to the fact that Mel Gibson shot scenes from The Passion of the Christ here. Gibson chose 'I Sassi', an area of ancient cave-dwellings, for the exterior parts of the film. MUSMA is in this part of the city as well .
The 'Sassi' area was originally settled in the Palaeolithic Age and developed into a shepherds' community where the inhabitants made their homes in the caves under the Murgia Plateau and enlarged them by carving out the soft stone .
Matera's tourist industry has also been boosted by the release of the restored version of Pier Paolo Pasolini's 1964 classic The Gospel According to Matthew, which was shot here too .
"The museum shows that this ancient land, which is proud of its history, is not making do with being a part of the past, but is projected towards the future too," said Rutelli .
"Matera's Sassi district is transforming itself, while staying true to its roots. In this way it will help the city, Basilicata and southern Italy to grow" .
