Matera, what to visit?

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Magical city with a picturesque scenery

Built almost by magic since remote antiquity in the heart of Basilicata and lying on the hill, Matera already offers at first glance a very suggestive scenario; If during the day the sun's rays give magical reflections to the white limestone rocks, at night the light of the moon that illuminates it makes this truly unique city similar to a nativity scene.

Through the Museums of archaeology, art, following the cultural and environmental routes , it is possible to learn about the history of this city, one of the few on the planet to be continuously inhabited since Prehistoric times. It is well known that 2019 was an important year for Matera , because the city was declared "European Capital of Culture" by UNESCO, a title that rightly follows the one obtained in 1993 as a 'World Heritage Site' for the Sassi District and the Park of the Rock Churches with a motivation that represents it: "Matera is one of the most incredible organized urban structures ever created in the world, an absolute masterpiece of ingenuity and adaptability."

The Sassi of Matera

It is in fact a unique experience to cross the City of Stones, with the overlapping houses that unexpectedly 'open' onto courtyards, alleys, squares, as it is surprising to enter, after the Gravina stream, into the large Park of the Rock Churches, in the number of one hundred and fifty, all carved into the rock in the Murge area, with a style of Latin and Byzantine inspiration, and all beautifully frescoed.

And it is no coincidence that for its fairy-tale and almost spiritual atmosphere that refers to the places of Palestine, Materahas been chosen as the set of various filmswith evangelical content, such as 'The Gospel according to Matthew' by Pier Paolo Pasolini, 'King David', or 'The passion', by Mel Gibson, as well as 'Ben Hur', and 'The young Messiah'.

Underground Matera

Also amazing is the underground Matera, where a water system flows to collect rainwater: the so-called 'Palombaro lungo' is the water reserve of the ancient city, a jewel of hydraulic engineering and almost futuristic architecture. Today it is still possible to admire this extraordinary historical find, in the center of Piazza Vittorio Veneto in the heart of the city, even if in 1927 a modern aqueduct was built, more practical than the ancient cistern although less suggestive.

In the Sassi area, the oldest nucleus is the Civita district, the center of the historic city that extends around the Cathedral, a masterpiece of Romanesque architecture with the façade adorned with an immense rose window: the interior houses the twelfth-century fresco of the Madonna della Bruna - protector together with Sant'Eustachio of the city -, to whom a great popular festival is dedicated on July 2nd.

Among the truly unique places of worship, the Church of Purgatory is worth mentioning, with a particular façade dedicated to the theme of death and adorned with skulls and skeletons.

Cave houses and baroque palaces in Matera

A city that also captivates for its strong contrasts with the presence of cave-houses, a residue of the harsh living conditions of the peasants in the past, next to sumptuous Baroque palaces, such as Palazzo Pomarici, also known as the palace of a hundred rooms, which today houses the MUSMA; or the Lanfranchi residence, the most beautiful of the seventeenth-century palaces, now home to the Museum of Medieval and Modern Art.

And among the museums it is worth mentioning the one that is the oldest in Basilicata, the 'Domenico Ridola' National Archaeological Museum, born from the donations of this important local figure. However, to better understand the life of the past, it is necessary to visit the 'Museum of Peasant Civilization', which accounts for the habits of the Matera peasants with tools, work clothes and furnishings.

Food and wine excellences of Matera

A work that has made valuable crops flourish, such as oil and wine, and that have given life to true gastronomic excellences, unobtainable elsewhere: a special bread for example, for the extraordinary flours with which it is kneaded, an extra virgin olive oil among the finest in Italy, tasty legumes that can be found in local recipes, ending with wines celebrated all over the world, such as Primitivo di Matera and Aglianico del Vulture, the latter is said to have been Frederick II's favorite wine.

Durum wheat bread

U-shaped Lucanian salami

Cavatelli

Among the cheeses to try is the Canestrato di Moliterno, with a spicy and aromatic taste, and the Pecorino di Filiano, intense and decisive, while one of the symbolic sausages of Basilicata is the Lucanica: an excellent seasoned sausage, with a characteristic "U" shape. Cavatelli is the most famous homemade pasta.

How to get to Matera by plane

The nearest airport to Matera is Bari about 55 km away (with bus service to/from Matera), connected with major Italian cities such as Milan, Rome, Verona, Turin, Venice, Trapani, Bergamo, Bologna and with destinations international events such as London (Stansted and Gatwick), Paris, Barcelona, Brussels, Cologne, Bucharest, Tirana, Stuttgart, Munich. Brindisi airport is about 140 km away while Naples airport is 250 km from Matera.

Texts by Anna Glik

Avion Tourism Magazine
Photo: Sisterscom.com, Shutterstock

Video: www.basilicataturistica.it
All rights reserved. Reproduction is prohibited.

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Where to stay in Matera

Matera is a welcoming city and offers various possibilities for accommodation in facilities equipped with every comfort.

To find the ideal hotel and the best offers , you can search by stars but also by neighborhoods or places of interest.

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Where To Go In MATERA

Churches in Matera

Cathedral of Matera

The Cathedral of Matera is built in the elegant Romanesque-Apulian style, between 1230 and 1270 and dominates the two Sassi from above, with its bell tower that stands out in the sky for 52 meters, a reference point for the entire civil and religious community. Note on the façade the large rose window that symbolizes the wheel of Fortune. Inside, in addition to the beautiful Byzantine fresco of the Madonna della Bruna, the elaborate wooden choir and the stone nativity scene of 1534 by Altobello Persio, and the large fresco on the Last Judgment, are to be admired.

Church of Santa Lucia alle Malve

The Church of Santa Lucia alle Malve is a beautiful and historic rock church magnificently frescoed with figures of the Virgin and Saints among which a place of honor is dedicated to Santa Lucia, depicted at the moment of her martyrdom. The colors have inexplicably remained still vivid thanks to a particular local technique. The place was the first Benedictine monastic settlement - the most important in the history of Matera - in the eighth century.

Rock churches in Matera

Convicinio of Sant Antonio

It is a structure carved into the rock in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, composed of four rock churches that open onto a common courtyard: San Primo, L'Annunziata, San Donato and Sant Antonio Abate, protector of animals and much venerated by the farmers of the area. All the churches have extraordinary frescoes. Other beautiful frescoes can be admired in the rock complex of Madonna delle Virtù and San Nicola dei Greci.

The Crypt of Original Sin

About 14 km from Matera is this extraordinary rock church, also called the Sistine Chapel for its frescoes that cover all the walls, depicting episodes from Genesis and made in the eighth and ninth centuries by a skilled artist known as 'the painter of flowers' born in Matera.

Museums in Matera

Museum of Peasant Civilization

Here is present with great realism what was the life of the Matera peasants in the past: in a restored house of the '700 you can admire the confined spaces with the poor rooms, sometimes only one, in which a family lived with the animals: the kitchen, the cistern for collecting rainwater, the manger, tools and furnishings of the time.

www.musolaboratorio.it

National Archaeological Museum

'Domenico Ridola'

It is the oldest national museum in Basilicata, founded in 1910 from the donations of Domenico Ridola, doctor, politician, archaeologist. Located in the former Convent of the Poor Clares, you can admire extraordinary finds ranging from the Paleolithic to the Greek and Roman times, many of which were brought to light by Ridola himself during his excavations in the territory of Matera. www.beniculturali.it

National Museum of Medieval and Modern Art of Basilicata

Housed in the beautiful Palazzo Lanfranchi, the Museum is divided into three sections: Sacred Art, with works of art from churches in the Lucanian area, Camillo d'Errico Collection with paintings from the Neapolitan school of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Contemporary Art, with paintings by Carlo Levi who spent the years of his confinement in Matera : among these to admire the large panel 'Lucania '61', which celebrates the Lucanian reality and the peasant world.

Musma

Located in Palazzo Pomarici, it is the most important Italian museum dedicated entirely to sculpture. More than 250 works by Italian and international artists can be admired in the approximately 1000 square meters of surface, partly exhibited in the built areas of the palace, partly in the underground rooms carved into the rock: there are sculptures in bronze, tuff, wood, iron, marble and ceramics.

www.musma.it

Ortega House

It is not only the residence where the great Spanish painter and sculptor José Ortega lived for many years, who moved to Matera in 1973, but it is also an interesting museum of the local artisan tradition, managed by the Zetema Foundation, which deals with the enhancement of cultural heritage. The papier-mâché sculptures with which the artist gave three-dimensionality to the painting are remarkable.

www.casaortega.it

Noha House

It is a residence built between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, one of the most significant examples of private architecture in the Sassi. Today it belongs to the FAI and inside you can take an evocative multimedia journey to discover the soul and millenary history of Matera.

www.fondoambiente.it

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Tours and excursions in Matera

MATERA BETWEEN TASTE AND CRAFTSMANSHIP

An excursion to visit the Sassi of Matera, churches and cave dwellings with frescoed rocks, the Cathedral of Santa Maria della Bruna built in Romanesque style and the Civita, the oldest part of Matera, where you can discover the ancient history of the city carved into the rock. Also tasting of the traditional flavors of typical local products: focaccia with tomatoes, cruschi peppers, cheeses and local salami with durum wheat bread and extra virgin olive oil, fried beans and taralli. Tour of Matera with degistation.

MURGIA PARK AND ROCK CHURCHES

Excursion to the park of the rock churches. In Murgia Timone you can admire the first human settlement and the traces of an ancient Neolithic village. Visit to the Rock Church of San Falcione and the Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Tre Porte with Byzantine frescoes. Stop at the Golgotha viewpoint where Mel Gibson shot the film "The Passion of the Christ". Tour of the Murgia Park and rock churches.

Parco Archeologico di Metaponto (Matera)

ARCHAEOLOGICAL PARK OF METAPONTO

An excursion with a specialized tour guide to discover the ancient Metaponto, capital of Magna Graecia in Basilicata. Here you can admire the Archaeological Park with the monumental ruins of the urban sanctuary dedicated to Apollo Lycius and the adjacent agora with ancient temples such as the splendid Temple of Hera and a visit to the National Archaeological Museum which houses important finds found in the area around Metaponto and Pisticci. Tour to the Archaeological Park of Metaponto.

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