Matera Things to Do

Where?

Although you can't really see it when you're on top of the Cathedral hill, it would have been to your left - opposite the Sasso Barisano - if you were looking from the observation spot by the Cathedral itself.

What?

The other of the great ravines is filled by Sasso Caveoso. Conceptually just like Sasso Barisano - a maze of narrow streets and houses - Sasso Caveoso has not been restored to anywhere near the same degree. In fact, we frequently saw building and reconstruction works going on in our wanders throughout this Sasso.

There are a number of interesting churches in the area, some dating back to as far as the 12th century, as well as the usual complement of hotels, museums, and eateries (even if in slightly smaller numbers than in Sasso Barisano).

Sasso Caveoso is also the starting point for the Gravina di Matera hikes, taking in a number of cave churches surrounding the area.

Where?

In one of the 2 valleys - and right below you, if you're looking down from the Cathedral square - along Via Fiorentini.

What?

The larger - and the better restored - of two sassi, with many cave houses now converted into museums, shops and restaurants. Our own hotel - the Sextantio - is part of the Sasso Barisano. There are also several Rupestrian churches.

While the sasso is, at first glance, simply a maze and is impossible to navigate, it's surprisingly easy and well marked, with tourist walking trails highlighted as you wander around. That said, just wandering around is not a bad idea in itself!

The Church of San Domenico is a religious place, extremely changed by time and works of renovation, which could not conceal its Romanic features on the façade.
The church combines Romanesque and baroque elements and contains works of art of the 16 century.
I must admitt this is the church I liked more as it is very simple but at the same time it is now in the most modern part of the city.

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My favourite thing about Matera is that city definitly offers to you much more than you expect.It's in the deep south of Italy usually known as the less safe area of the country and you find an incredibly safe and quiet town, it's incredibly clean for the southern Italy standards and still there are not so many tourists around.Then you see there is a torture museum which is not advertised in the travel books it doesn't even have a web site, you go and you find out this is the museum that in Europe collects the bigger number of torture tools.The museum is not so big, just 3 rooms but the tools are well mainained and the visit, after you read what those tools were used to and where they are still used, does not leave you indifferent.

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This is the main square of the city, in the area only resident can use cars so it's easy to walk around and cross streets without any problem and you can enjoy an icecream sitting outside without breathing the car gas.From this square you also have a great look on sasso barisano and you can see some part of the undergorund town with several cisterns up to 15 meters big used to keep the rain water, practically another city under the city.

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This is the smaller "sasso", the origin of its name is not sure but it probably derives from the fact that this area is oriented to the city of Bari.
It lays on north west of civita but you can have a look on it from Piazza Vittorio Veneto even if you will get the best panorama on Sasso Barisano from the Duomo square which, for me, should be the sart of your visit of Sassi, infact going down to Sasso Barisano. from duomo square you will be able to start an easy itinerary that will bring you, at the end, into the earth of the bigger and more popular Sasso caveoso.
During this walk you will meet on your way the church of San Pietro Barisano, the Church of San Agostino and the Santa Maria delle malve with its beautiful frescos.

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Gravina is a deep ravine, a canyon some kilometrs long passed through by a river.Matera developed all along the cliffs of the Gravina creating the wide urban area of sassi and civita.
During the medioevo many rock churches have been built all along the Gravina some still preserve their frescos, some look just like caves.
Murgia is a mesa that goes from puglia region until Matera and the caves in this area witness the human presence since prehistorical age.
Following the itinerary I mentioned in the sasso caveoso and sasso barisano tip you will be able to walk just along one side of the canyon that gives you some really breathtaking views of nature, grottos and rock churches.

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The casa grotta which literelally means home cave is one of the best way to have an idea of how people lived in this town untill 1950 when the sassi got abandoned for healthy reasons.
The casa Grotta I am talking about is the one of Casalnuovo(there are 2 and this is the one less visited by tourists as more difficult to reach).
In the casa grotta you will find the rooms a typical home were made of:the kitchen the bedroom, the stable, the cellar and in each area you will be shown the original toys used for the daily activities.Particulary interesting is the water cistern where people used to store the rain water as that area was not served by any aqueduct.That made me think of how clever we are in wasting that natural resource.
The ticket to visit the casa costs 1,50€ and inside there is an audio system which shows you the house in italian, french, english, german and japanise.