Sassi di Matera || Italy's Cave Dwellings

Let's Explore Sassi di Matera

Sassi, means stone in Italian, Sassi is refering to the cave dwellings. which is the term used for the cave dwellings. That is the reason that Sassi di Matera got its name.
The Sassi area are the two historical districts of Matera, which are made up out of cave dwellings originally dug into the rocky mountain itself, creating spaces for the people to live which have been inhabited for thousands of years.

The standard of live
People here lived in poverty, without a sewage system, electricity or clean water. They had a pot in the house which was used as a toilet. Diseases were common in this place and doctors were rare or too expensive. People who got sick often died. Not only the old people, but many kids as well.
In 1945, writer Carlo Levi published a book which was shining light on the poor situation of Matera. This attracted the attention of the people including the government. Matera gained the name ''The city of shame'' known to be a hellhole to live in.
Between 1953 and 1968, The government evacuated half of Matera’s citizens, around 15.000 people, to modern housing. This became the new part of Matera.

That doesn't mean that the old historical part is now completely deserted. Nowadays, the Sassi di Matera is modernised and the once so poor place is now packed with cute restaurants and cave hotels. Matera gained quite some name since it got in 1993 UNESCO heritage status, attracting the necessary amount of tourists, investors and thus money.

Visit a musea of an Cave Dwelling
I started my tour at Casa Grotts Senza Nidd, A small musea style cave dwelling which showed what a house looked like from the inside before the evacuation of 1950. There was an audio fragment telling about the living situation of the family.

When you get to the edge of Sassi di Matera, you will find a part of town which still looks similar to how it must have looked before the 1950s evacuation. However, there are no people living anymore, but the cave dwellings have not been renovated or extended unlike the caves in the touristic part. This gives a better idea of how the place has been hundreds of years back.

Santa Maria di Idris church
This church is really something else, shaped out of the peak of the mountain. I am pretty sure that there are not many churches similar to the Santa Maria Di Idris church of Matera. You can easily spot this church when you are wandering around.

The Santa Maria Di Idris, the Cave church of Matera

The highest building on this picture looking like a rock is the Santa Maria Di Idris

Matera's Must do Hike
When you visit Matera, you must go for the hike to the mountaintop at the other side of the Gravina River. It takes around 2 hours if you take it chill and take some time to enjoy a nice break while enjoying the view at the top. Along the hike you will see a beautiful view of Sassi di Matera, and there are also other caves to explore at that side of the mountain. Here you can see how the neolithic caves originally looked like, where people lived 7000 years ago. Sad enough, I missed this part so I gotta go back here next year.

Here you can see the hiking trail to the viewpoint at the other side of Matera. You will easily notice it while exploring Sassi di Matera

You will encounter this kinda stunning views along the way

And this kinda view. In the picture you can see the bridge to cross the river

This is the viewpoint we climbed

You will encounter caves along the way witch views over Matera

Watch the lights of Matera after sunset
After sunset, I found the view over Matera to be even more stunning than it already looked in the daytime. It truly looks like some kinda fairy town and I understand 100% why it is a popular location for movies. It looks so romantic!

The view of Matera just after sunset

How to get to Matera by train
Matera is located in the Basilicata area of southern Italy and it is a perfect day trip from Bari. You can ride a train from Bari which takes just 1 hour and 45 minutes. The train takes off from the station next to Bari central station (just ask the people at the station and they will point you in the right direction) Here you can find the train schedule
From other places like Naples or Lecce, you can take a train to Bari first and transfer to the train to Matera

Matera has been used as a movie set several times and right now, they were also busy preparing a new movie. The staff didn't want to give details but I heard a rumour that it will be George Clooney's next movie.

One last view over Matera

I hope you liked exploring Sassi Di Matera with me! Thanks for passing by!

Regards,
Sascha