I can’t tell you all the names of the places we visited during our two days because we paid for two personal guides, Silvio to take us around the maze of streets that wind up and down and around this magical town; Cosimo to help us navigate the trails on the other side of the canyon, dotted with caves. Both were excellent! As I suspected, Matera is not a place that I wanted to figure out all on my own. Let the professionals do it!
Matera is otherworldly, especially at night when the caves and stone buildings built above the caves are lit up. Our Airbnb has an astonishing view from on high, looking out at a hillside above a canyon the lit-up sassi (stone caves and buildings built into and on top of the caves) and the dramatic church Santa Maria de idris (circa the 14th century) built into an enormous towering rock. The place is a self-contained canyon, hidden from the world beyond. Matera’s history goes back to the Stone Age. Today it has two historic “sasso districts.” (Our Airbnb is in Sasso Caveoso.)
We ditched our car in a paid lot (no parking in the old town/sasso districts) and made the trek with our roller bags past the duomo and down down down slick stone steps to our Airbnb built around a cave but not in a cave now offered by luxury hotels. (Too claustrophobic.) The steps required to get around (up and down) town are shiny and slick, a bit scary to navigate. I wonder how many broken legs and wrenched knees this town sees.
I found our great guides from a story about Matera that I happened to chance upon in the Financial Times. (I rarely see or read the FT so it was fated that I find these guides!) Silvio took us to various highlights including a beautiful ancient cave church (Santa Lucia alle Malve) that still has some bright ancient murals painted on stone walls.
The baroque duomo was smaller but more ornate than Lecce’s, to our surprise, dripping in gold that reminded me (alas) of today’s White House. The cave churches were the most fascinating, especially the smaller one, Santa Lucia alle Malve (circa the 9th century) which had a few remnants of frescos. (There’s a bizarre breastfeeding Madonna —the breast is located on her shoulder.)
We also visited a replica of a cave home, where people lived in squalor, sharing their cave with their animals and manure until the 1950s and early 60s when the government was shamed into moving them into better housing. the story of Matera’s rebirth is recent and remarkable. After the government moved people out of the sassi, the area was largely abandoned and considered a dangerous no-go area, with drugs and crime. but gradually people started rediscovering and restoring the sassi. Getting UNESCO world heritage status in 1993 was a boost, so was Mel Gibson’s creepy film about Christ which was,partially shot in Matera (deemed a perfect biblical stand in).
We spent two nights in Matera and enjoyed having one day to just kick around and wander. (We visited the Duomo.) On our last morning, we went on a four hour walk and talk across the canyon in the archeological park, guided by lovely Cosimo, a 44-year old Matera native who offered all kinds of information on life in Matera now and long ago.
It was also great to stand on the other side of the canyon that we had looked at for two days and see our Airbnb location from afar. Our Swedish-born Airbnb host was old school – she met us in person! (No anonymous lock box with code.) It was fun to get to know her, her restored sassi is beautiful and she had fantastic suggestions for where to eat and shop.
We ate well. Dinner on night one was at La Lopa, a fashionable spot which in addition to traditional fare has a clever movie reel in the bottom floor with highlights from movies shot here including the James Bond film “No Time to Die.” Our food was even better on night two at Osteria Belvedere al Vecchio Frantoio, a less fashionable but welcoming traditional trattoria where we had superb fried zucchini flowers (which I have never made right) and a matera version of lasagne, light on the cheese but featuring eggplant, tiny meatballs and little slices of salami. Really delicious.
For lunch, we shopped in and near a fruit and vegetable market in the newer part of town, picking up local cheese (caciacavalla), salami, delicious eggplant focaccia, and dried crispy red peppers (eaten here like potato chips) which we ate outside our Airbnb with the stupendous view. We met various tourists who happened by including an outgoing South African guy. Two other food finds (thanks to our Airbnb host) Ridola Cafe for breakfast and I vizi degli angeli – laboratorio de gelateria artigianale (yes, superb gelato).
We did some early winter holidays shopping at several nice stores. Turns out our lovely Swedish Airbnb host also owns a jewelry store I’d admired before I knew it was her’s, called Elisa &Janna near the Duomo. ( In a strange coincidence, the Airbnb host lived years ago on the same street in London as our longtime pals there.😳)
We ended the day in Bari, a relatively easy drive hour long drive from Matera and are staying at a easy in and out Airbnb near the train station, where we leave in the morning on a train back to Rome. We explored the Bari Vecchio (old town) with its narrow alleyways and massive ancient chur hs (sound familiar) and had the city’s famous assassin’s pasta at a hip place near the university. The pasta is not boiled but instead fried to crispiness. Wasn’t as hot as I feared and I liked the church.
Some AI basics re:Matera
Matera is considered one of the oldest settlements, often cited as the third oldest after Aleppo and Jericho, with evidence of habitation dating back over 10,000 years. Matera is a continuously inhabited city in southern Italy, known for its ancient cave dwellings carved into rock.
- Age: Evidence of settlement in Matera dates back over 10,000 years, with some sources citing the existence of prehistoric cave dwellings from the Paleolithic era.
- Inhabitation: The city is notable for its Sassi, or “stones,” which are ancient cave dwellings that were inhabited for millennia before being evacuated in the mid-20th century due to poor living conditions.
- Modern status: The Sassi have since been restored and now house modern amenities, acting as hotels, restaurants, museums, and homes, while still showcasing the city’s ancient history.
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