Matera

 Buongiorno!

As promised, today’s posting will cover our guided tour of Matera.  

If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to visit this city, let me start by saying it is a hidden gem.  Did you know that Matera was designated a UNESCO World Héritage Site in 1993 and recognized by the EU as the European Capitol of Culture in 2019?

You’re probably saying, “I’ve never heard of it…what makes it so special?”

Well, there are 3 main things that stand out in my mind.  First of all, it’s very, very, very old. In fact, if it isn’t THE oldest city in the world, it is certainly one of the oldest.  There is direct evidence that human settlements started here as early as the Stone Age (the 10th millenium BC!) and have continued on the same site without interruption to the present day. 

The second main standout is the ancient town, called Sassi di Matera.  “Sassi” are caves - dwellings that are dug into the rock.  These caves served as the first homes of Matera’s inhabitants and their livestock and, believe it or not, they were occupied until the 1950’s! 

Here’s a view of some of the caves that still exist beyond the existing city.

I think the best way to give you a good description is to insert here an excerpt from an article of “The Italian Insider” (May 31, 2022).  

“Mattera is divided into two separate areas, a new and an old city. … [The old city] forms a sort of bowl, descending from Piazza Vittorio Veneto to the Rione Vetera and rising up again to the Piazza del Duomo.”

Here’s one of the main entry gates to the old city

We walked through one of the 3 arches on the top right, just above the lower set of old arches.  This

 opened onto a viewing area just off the Piazza Vittorio Venetian. 

        Here’s the view!  You can see the Duomo Tower just behind Vince’s head:

And from an angle taken a bit more to the right

We did not walk the 400 metres down into the old city (my fear of heights just wouldn’t let me go down the steep steps), but it is possible to do so for the brave of heart!  If you go, make sure you have a map or a fully charged phone armed with Google Maps - it is truly a maze of streets and alleyways!

Instead, we exited back out from the viewing area to the Piazza Vittorio Venetian and then walked all the way around the top of the bowl to another viewing area near the Duomo.

Here are some shots along the way:

This is about half-way around the bowl. The previous pics were taken at a site at the top left of the picture.

To the right is the street leading to the duomo…

…Which looked like this.

And now for the duomo, the 3rd most remarkable thing about Matera…

Main entrance in Piazza del Duomo

Inside…

The last set of pictures present views from the Piazza del Duomo down the slopes on the other side of the Duomo

Remember, this is 400 meters above the bottom of “the bowl”!  Makes me still shiver looking at it! 

By the way, the reddish colour building in the upper left is a very exclusive luxury hotel.

And this picture is taken just to the right of the position above and here you can see the “sassi” in the hillside. 

So that ends our tour of Matera.  We hope we’ve piqued your interest in this beautiful, fascinating place!

Tomorrow, we’ll be going to our last organized wine-tasting destination.  So stay tuned for more fun 

and adventure!

Ciao for now!