Let’s Talk about Matera
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Don’t scold me for including Matera in a blog about Puglia but I can’t stop thinking about my experience while visiting the Sassi. First, it’s one of those “must see” stops while driving back to Rome or during a stay down south between the Apuglian coastline and the middle arch of the heel heading along the other coast of where Naples lies.
We stayed one night. I was on a tight schedule and refused to miss out on another opportunity to visit this amazingly weird and weirdly sheik, beautiful village. On my last trip to Italy I regretfully nixed my planned expedition to Matera in turn for more time in Vico Equense. To fully explore the mazes of walkways and striking architecture, I reccommend staying two nights minimum. I kept thinking I was not in Italy but somewhere in the Middle east.
For the best way of getting there, rent a car and drive. The interior landscape is stark at tines with vast fields of wheat or other agriculture depending on the season and mountains.
Matera is a small city in the Basilicata region of southern Italy. The ancient town is called the “Sassi di Matera”. The Sassi di Matera, a UNESCO World Heritage site, originated from a prehistoric troglodyte settlement, making it one of Italy’s oldest habitations. These homes are carved into the calcareous rock of Basilicata and Apulia, showcasing a primitive yet innovative architectural style. Each dwelling resembles a cave, varying in size according to the early community's needs and social structure. The layout is unique, with structures excavated into the rock and stacked vertically, creating a labyrinthine network of streets.
View from Locanda di San Martino
Fast forward, Matera is an expensive place to visit and finding affordable lodging and dining can be a bit of a challenge, especially if you’re traveling with more than two people. Locanda di San Martino Thermae Spa and Hotel located in an excellent spot.
In the 1950s, the Sassi faced a crisis as the Italian government enacted a controversial relocation policy to combat poverty, forcibly moving residents to public housing in a modernizing city. This led to population decline and threats to the ecological and cultural integrity of the site, profoundly impacting both the community and the preservation of their historic homes.
Locanda Di San Martino
If you are looking for a little more high end luxury I recommend Aquatio Cave Luxury Hotel & SPA located at Via Conche, Sasso Caveoso, 75100 Matera, Matera, Matera, IT
The Hotel is within the Sassi’s UNESCO World Heritage Site
Located inside the Matera Sassi UNESCO World Heritage site, a short walk from Matera Cathedral. You can dine at the Restaurant La Dispensa located inside the hotel and offers award winning regional cuisine coupled with local wines.
The hotel's restaurant serves delicious meals, using fresh, local ingredients.
From budget to luxury, check out Le Dimore dell'Acqua is highly rated and a short walking distance to the Sassi. You’ll enjoy Sassi views right from your terrace. In the heart of the historic center of Matera, near Piazza Giovanni Pascoli, inside an ancient building from 1870. Located at Via Emanuele Duni 24, 75100, Matera, Italy
Osteria Pico
Via Fiorentini, 42, 75100 Matera MT, Italy.
Osteria Pico is located in the heart of the Sassi di Matera and is entirely dug into the stone and has three levels of dining. Friendly staff and fantastic food.
La Talpa Restaurant is located in the center of the Sassi di Matera along the main Via dei Fiorentini, the beating heart of Sasso Barisano. The restaurant is entirely dug into the rock, and its rooms present the distinctive signs of the thousand-year-old Matera rock culture, rooms that were used for different purposes over time until becoming an abandoned home in the second half of the 1900s. In 2000 the restaurant was transformed into a welcoming restaurant with about 100 seats inside.
In the summer, from May to September, it hosts its customers in a large outdoor courtyard in the extraordinary setting of the Sassi di Matera with a suggestive view of the Cathedral.
ZINNONA APPETIZER
Campagnola stuffed with burnt wheat with chicory and mozzarella. Fior di latte 500g, cruschi peppers, spicy salami a punta di taglio.
SENISE CRUSCHI PEPPERS
Typical Lucanian cruschi peppers are crispy crunchy and savory delicious snacks that pair well with an Aperol Spritz
Touring the Sassi
Top Fivers for your visit:
Matera is a small, welcoming and quiet town with many beautiful things to do. Most stays are 2 nights and provides a perfect top five to do while in the beauty of a city.
Take a Walk at dawn in the Sassi, listening to the silence and watching the city awaken with its noises and changing colors, watching the sun slowly make its way over the roofs of the houses and between the bell towers of the churches until it floods the squares and stairways of the Sassi di Matera. Magical indead.
Get lost spending a morning walking all through the paths and steep steps of the Sasso Caveoso, the most historic part of Matera where you can visit cave dwellings and rupestrian churches.
Dine in a cave restaurant. Lunch of Dinner in one of Matera’s cave restaurants is a great way to feel and smell the stones around you while taking in the local cusine. Don’t forget to order “cruschi” peppers, meaning dried at the sun, an addicting flavor of Lucania that is crunchy and slightly bitter of a dried pepper.
Walk up to the highest point and watch the sun sink into the backdrop of the Sassi.
After dinner take a walk and snap photos of the lit up stone structures.
