Puglia Holidays – Take a Side Trip To Matera

Planning the itinerary of your Puglia holidays? Why not include the experience of staying in a cave that was first occupied thousands of years ago, in the wonderful destination of Matera?

If you've never heard of Matera before, chances are that in the coming months you certainly will. The city has been declared the host of the European Capital of Culture for 2019 by the European Union. Here are some top facts about this little-known, yet fascinating place.

About Matera

Renowned as one of the oldest existing cities in the world, Matera is located in a small canyon within the province of the same name in the region of Basilicata in southern Italy. It is southwest of Apulia, where you’ll no doubt be spending a large portion of your Puglia holidays, so is certainly worth the effort to visit as a side trip.

Many people planning Puglia holidays includes Matera on the itinerary, due to the burgeoning interest in the Sassi di Matera. The name translates as ‘the rocks of Matera’ and refers to around 1500 cliff dwellings centred around a steep ravine called La Gravina. Believed to have been settled since the Palaeolithic Age, the city is now an emerging tourist destination, centring on these Sassi. These amazing caves are used as houses, spas, hotels, churches and even palazzi.

A Little History

Matera hasn’t always been the clean, tourist-friendly destination you'll find today on Puglia holidays. In fact, once upon a time it was considered ‘the shame of Italy’– "la vergogna nazionale". Formerly synonymous with poverty within an area already known for desolation and brigands, the Sassi of Matera had such a bad reputation that in the 1950s the Italian government relocated its inhabitants – mostly farmers and peasants – to new housing projects, leaving the area abandoned.

Today, inhabitants are moving back, mostly with help from the visionaries of the 1970s and 1980s whose dream it was to restore the Sassi, and a new program by the government offering 30-year leases at nominal cost to tenants who agreed to renovate the caves. In 1993, Matera was declared a UNESCO heritage site for being "the most outstanding, intact example of a troglodyte settlement in the Mediterranean region, perfectly adapted to its terrain and ecosystem".

Visiting Matera

When you visit Matera as a day trip on your Puglia holidays, you can take advantage of a guided tour and see a cave-house reconstruction and get a feel of how the families who lived there in the past went about their everyday lives. Better yet, play troglodyte and stay in a cave-hotel or inn for a night or two and try the simple, yet flavourful cuisine for a truly authentic experience.

Take some time to see the chiese rupestri (churches) hewn out of the rocks within the caves and marvel at some of the ancient frescoes created by monks from the Byzantine era. One of the must-see churches, the San Pietro Caveoso, actually isn't in a cave, but built on a rock above the Sassi.

Other places to visit are the Museo Nazionale Ridola, the Museo Nazionale d'Arte Medievale e Moderna della Regione Basilicata and the Museo della Scultura Contemporanea Matera), which exhibits sculpture from the 19th century onwards.

Matera is definitely a blast from the rock hewn past – and a great addition to your Puglia holidays.

Carolyn Spinks is COO of ABTOI - The Association of British Travel Organisers to Italy. If you’re looking for the perfect Puglia holidays their LoveItaly website provides destination information, contact details of tour operator members to help you plan the best Italian holiday, ‘insider’ tips, year round special offers and information on everything from beach holidays in Sardinia, cycling in Sicily, to a wedding or honeymoon in Tuscany.