The Sassi are houses dug into the chalky rock itself.
Many of them are really little more than small caverns, and in some parts of
the Sassi, a street lies on top of another group of dwellings. The ancient town
grew up on one slope of the rocky ravine created by a river that is now a small
stream, and up the other side of the ravine.
The height of the population was 20,000. This resulted in
overcrowded conditions where disease spread due to unsanitary conditions.
(to be continued)
