In Matera: a photo gallery

May 16, 2019

OK, folks. If there’s one message I want you to take away from following us on this tour, it’s this: go to Matera. What an astonishing place it is. I promise you - it’s an experience you won’t forget.

If you’re unfamiliar with Matera, here’s a brief synopsis. You can of course read further on your own, while you’re waiting to see it first hand. We were astounded to learn that Matera is the third oldest continually inhabited city on the planet, after Aleppo and Jericho. Its origins are alleged to go back 9,000 years.

Matera is exceptional for its age, but for so much more. As recently as 1950, many of its residents lived in Sassi (caves), in conditions hard to imagine today - 10 or more people living in small caves, without a water or plumbing supply, living with their donkeys, pigs and chickens. We visited one of these caves, reconstructed in the style of the time. People slept on high beds, with space beneath for the hen and chicks to roam at night, just a few feet from a recessed area of the cave where the other livestock was stabled. Children slept in cradles at the foot of the bed, or in cabinet drawers. Childhood mortality rate was 50%.

The caves, rife with malaria, were closed down in the 1950’s and 15,000 cave dwelling residents were forcibly moved into more modern, sanitary conditions in the upper city.

Today, the city has been discovered and is exploding. Caves are being converted into hotels and restaurants at a fast rate, and tourists are starting to arrive in large numbers. Our restaurant owner this evening said that everything started changing about four years ago. This year, Matera was declared (jointly, with Plovdiv, Bulgaria) the European City of Culture by the European Union.

There is so much to show about Matera, and I’ve given up trying to cull down photos to a reasonable number. The third oldest city on earth is pretty exceptional though, so we’ll just give up and show an exceptional number of photos. Hopefully they’ll be enough to convince you to pencil it into your travel plans, soon.

For now, in the interest of time, I’ll just group label them to help us remember what this all was. I’ll come back and caption further here and there as time permits.

Cityscapes

Dali sculptures

Church of San Giovanni Batista

Xxx

Chiesa della Madonna de Idris

A town full of caves and tunnels is great when you need to hide out from the rain.

Cave dwelling of Vico Solitario

Sassi

The roof and chimney of a cave home. You’re often literally walking on the roofs of caves in the lower town.

I think this is the chimney from a cave home that is now beneath Via Madonna della Virtu. It looks like the balcony road was just built across the top of old abandoned caves.

Miscellaneous shots

Looking across the ravine to the caves on the opposite bank.

Above the portal of the Chiesa Del Purgatorio, built as a place to pray for souls trapped between heaven and hell

Monastery of Sant’ Augustino

The baptismal font, in the Monastery of Saint Augustine.

The organ, in the Monastery of Saint Augustine.

Chiesa di San Pietro Caveoso

Waiting to enter San Pietro Caveoso. It rains off and on today, as you can see. We came back later to visit after the rains passed on.

The cathedral

Chiesa di San Domenico

Dinner at Dedalo, and after dark

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Anne MathersThat is incredible, Scott...and is certainly enough to make me to sign up. Cycle touring is seductive, isn't it? You have gut it out sometimes but the rewards always seem to show up.
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5 years ago

Scott AndersonTo Anne MathersSeductive is right. It’s a bit humbling, really. It makes me feel a bit provincial to keep coming across these utterly unique and fascinating places I knew nothing about.
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5 years ago