A beautiful Italian town carved from a mountainside is so stunning to look at it's been immortalised as a backdrop for more than 20 films.

       The good looks of Matera, in the less well known Basilicata region of Italy, are thanks to its unusual limestone architecture and a natural gorge that surrounds the settlement.

       Now home to 60,000 people, Matera dates back thousands of years to the Palaeolithic period when the first people arrived and dug out homes in caves from the relatively soft rock formation.

       Matera was made a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1993, a ruling which covers the town as well as the ancient cave dwellings which are known as the Sassi.

       In the last few years, the area was made famous on the big screen in scenes from the James Bond film No Time to Die, starring Daniel Craig and Léa Seydoux.

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       Filmmakers have been attracted to Matera on many occasions, with other productions including remakes of The Omen and Ben-Hur also being shot there. In all more than 20 movies have used the incredible views in some form.

       Directors have also nicknamed the town Little Jerusalem because of the amount of religious films that have been recorded there, such as Mel Gibson's The Passion of Christ and the Italian film The Gospel According to St Matthew.

       The Guardian reports the mayor of Matera, Domenico Bennardi, said: “Cinema has always embraced our city, now more than ever.

       "From the summer of 2017 to the first months of 2021, we welcomed more than 140 Italian and international production companies."

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       Business from Hollywood and European cinema is welcome in the region, which is one of the poorest in Italy. An average wage in the town is just ￡1,000 per month.

       Matera's location in the less well-off south of Italy meant many locals left in the last century looking for work and by the 1970s the town was almost deserted.

       However, local campaigning and a move to attract film companies and other events led to a resurgence for the city and it being named European Capital of Culture in 2019.