Sassi di Matera

I knew Brad wasn’t looking forward to today’s destination as he said it looked like a bombed Beirut when we saw it across the gully on our way to Alberobello, and to be honest it didn’t look that inviting from the opposite side. However, we were very pleasantly surprised.

Matera is a city on a rocky outcrop in the region of Basilicata, in southern Italy. It is known for its Sassi area, a complex of cave dwellings carved into the mountainside. Allegedly founded by the Romans in the 3rd century BC, by the 1950s it was a source of shame for Italy, a place of poverty, malaria and high rates of infant mortality, where people lived in caves without electricity, running water or sewage. A book at the time raised awareness of the desperate conditions and about half of the 30000 population were forcibly moved by the Italian government to new homes in the modern part of the city between 1953 and 1968.

Until the late 1980s the Sassi was still considered an area of poverty, since its dwellings were, and in most cases still are, uninhabitable and dangerous. Tourism has helped with the regeneration of the Sassi and it is becoming a unique tourist destination. The city is now amongst the fastest growing in southern Italy.

We were staying in the Sassi area and had to park in a carpark some distance from our accommodation. Thankfully on the advice of our hostess, we had packed everything we needed for our overnight stay into our backpacks and left the majority of our luggage in the boot, hoping like crazy that it would still be there in the morning. (It was)

Once we had checked into our amazing accommodation, we ventured out to explore this very unique town. It felt like we had stepped back in time, especially with quite a large area of the Sassi still abandoned. Thankfully bit by bit locals are starting to restore their abandoned family homes and what was once known as the slum, housing for the poorest of the poor, is now a tourist destination that is helping Matera become an amazing restored historic town. I just feel very lucky to be able to visit this place.

Due to it being out of tourist season, there was not a lot open in the old area and we were happy enough just wandering around the few stalls in the Piazza S Pietro Caveoso and admiring the amazing views across the ravine. Seeing the mountain side scattered with caves in which people lived and worshiped for centuries was eye-opening. It is just hard to believe that people lived in such hard to get to places.

We visited the Chiesa di San Pietro Caveoso before enjoying a light lunch at Keil, a café overlooking the square. One thing we do enjoy is having a glass of wine or beer and just sitting back watching the world around us and people watching and there are some strange ones around, that’s for sure.

As everything shut here for riposo we took some time to relax before heading out again to check out the Chiesa Rupestre di Santa Maria di Idris in the late afternoon. I have to say it is so hard not to keep photographing the same thing over and over again. This town is like nothing I have ever seen and it is such a feast for the eyes.

Our dinner choices were a little light on due to it being out of tourist season and we were very lucky that the owner of the café we had lunch at agreed to cook us a light meal, even though his kitchen was closing. It was a strange feeling being one of very few people out and about in the Sassi area, especially after coming from Alberobello, which was still quite busy at nighttime. After a light dinner, we headed back to our cave home for an early evening as it was getting cooler and the fog was rolling in. It was an amazing sight seeing the Sassi lit up at night and covered in fog in the morning.

I loved that we did not rush everywhere trying to see as much as possible, but I would love to visit Matera again to explore the entire town, not just our little corner of it. It is a magical place and at the top of my list of favourites from this trip.Read more