

May 30, 2022 · ☀️ 77 °F Altitude: 1,316 ft
ItalyBasilicateMateraVilla dell'Unità d'Italia40°40’14” N 16°36’22” E
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Few Days in Matera

Woke up, had breakfast, packed and walked to the pharmacy to get Klaus motion sickness medicine before taking a taxi to the ferry. ⛴ We opted for the outdoor deck hoping Klaus would not be sick this time, between the medicine and the outdoors it worked. It was a ride to not be forgotten, the swells were so large they crashed into the boat soaking all us, I literally mean dripping wet. Arrived at the port in Naples and the driver was waiting to take us back to the airport for our rental car. The drive to the airport was so sad, it was shocking how dirty and run down the buildings were. 2.5 hours later we arrived in Matera, once in the downtown area we had to call the hotel and get directed to the front door. You only get one passage a day and literally are driving thru people on cobblestone streets. Once we arrived we were greeted by the host and she took over the driving to navigate the car thru a small door opening and park the car. We got cleaned up and explored the town. Until you see it with your own eyes you can’t imagine this place exists.
It’s only fare to give a little snippet of the history to understand what we experienced.
Matera is known to be one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world – along with Aleppo, in Syria, and Jericho, in Palestine. People in Matera have lived in caves for millennia (it’s estimated they used to live there already in the Paleolithic) and until around 70 years ago.
Right after World War II, the degrading living conditions of the inhabitants of the Sassi became known throughout Italy.
It was Italian writer Carlo Levi who first – and pointedly – described the poverty and the living conditions of the Sassi di Matera in his book, Christ Stopped at Eboli, which was published in 1945
Levi spoke of people who lived in cave homes along with their animals – usually a donkey or a mule, occasionally a horse, as well as chickens and at times even pigs. The cave homes had no running water or electricity and hardly any ventilation. Locals literally only slept and ate indoors – every other aspect of life was lived outside, in the “vicinati” – the small courtyards that scatter the landscape of the Sassi di Matera.
It didn’t take long after the publication of the book for Matera to become “the shame of Italy.” Unable to explain the unacceptable living conditions of the Sassi di Matera, Italian politicians and experts worked together in an effort to clean up the area, and from May 1952 more than 17000 people were moved to neighborhoods that were built ad-hoc for them.
It took it around 70 years to go from being the shame of Italy to one of its jewels, and a place all Italians are proud of.
Day2: Woke up, had breakfast and ventured off to do a tour of a cave home. The family who owned it donated it to the city with the contents so people could understand how they lived. It is crazy to think it was the way people lived until 1952. We visited a couple of churches including dating back to the 15th century with original art work still. After some more exploring we went back to the room napped and get ready for the evening. We walked, explored and got some dinner before calling it a night.
Day 3: Woke up, put on tennis shoes and went for a hike. I can only describe it as very challenging and amazing. The views were incredible all the way to the caves. Once you arrived at the caves you could now begin to imagine people lived in them not that long ago. There was a church dating back to the 600s with the original frescoes. Sweaty, hot, and hungry we made it back to the hotel for a light breakfast and a cappuccino. We got cleaned up, packed our bags and made our way to a wonderful lunch at Michelin star Le Bubole.
We Loaded up the car and drove 3 hours to Positano along the winding roads!!!Read more

Beautiful! [Carrie]

Now this is perfect! [Carrie]

I know God always promoted wine but I think he’ll approve of aperol’s in front of a church too