Matera
Anyone who sees Matera cannot help but be awe-struck, so expressive and touching is its sorrowful beauty. - Carlo Levi
Matera, The Sassi and the Park of Chiese Rupestri
Activities
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Casa Noha, Matera
The perfect first stop in Matera, Casa Noha provides an interactive introduction to the city.
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Church of Santa Chiara, Matera
The richly decorated façade, of this 17th-century church, has a lunette in the upper and lower portal flanked by two columns and two niches with statues of saints. The interior has a nave.
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Giovanni Pascoli Square, Matera
To the left of the 17th-century Palazzo Lanfranchi is the Piazzetta Pascoli named after the Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli who lived in Matera between 1882 and 1884, where he started his career as a teacher of Latin and greek. It has one of the best views of the Sassi.
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Matera Cathedral, Matera
With its beautiful facade, which includes a rose window, divided by 16 small columns, the cathedral, which dates back to the 13th-century has a magnificent view over the Sasso Barisano.
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Museo Archeologico Nazionale Domenico Ridola, Matera
Within a former convent, next door to the 17th-century Church of Santa Chiara, this Baroque building has been turned into an archaeological museum.
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Museo della Scultura Contemporanea, Matera
The Museum of Contemporary Sculpture includes nearly 400 sculptures from the end of the 19th-century to the present day, by Italian and international artists, including Kengiro Azuma, Maria Lai and Duilio Cambellotti. Some of them are exhibited underground, making it the only troglodyte museum in the world.
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Palazzo Lanfranchi, Matera
A stunning Baroque building which is now the National Museum of Medieval and Modern Art.
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Palazzo dell’Annunziata, Matera
This grand 18th-century convent was completed by two separate architects, something which can be spotted within architectural features. Around 100 years after it was completed, the Palazzo took on a civic function which it continues today as Matera's library.
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Piazza Vittorio Veneto, Matera
The fountain in the middle of the irregularly-shaped Pizzia Vittorio Veneto is fed by huge cisterns under the ground with excavations in the square itself give you an insight into the engineering marvel. It's also the perfect place to enjoy a drink and watch the world go by!
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Piazza del Sedile, Matera
This was already the Piazza Maggiore, the main market square, in the 14th century, surrounded by stores, taverns and shops, then used in 1550 as the governor’s offices, the city jails and the town hall.
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San Pietro Caveoso, Matera
Founded in the 12th-century, San Pietro Caveoso (in the Sasso Caveoso) boasts some of the most impressive church architecture in the region, as well as incredible views over the ravine where the original dwellers of Matera lived in caves. Inside, admire the incredible architecture: much of it predates the 17th-century.
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Santa Maria de Idris and San Giovanni in Monterrone, Matera
Two conjoined cave-churches, with crypts built into the rock containing frescoes dating back to the 12th-century. Part built-up, part built-into rock the churches are remarkable.
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Santuario della Madonna delle Tre Porte, Matera
Despite the church's rather rustic entrance, the interior is well decorated with frescoes and multiple crosses scratched into the walls. However, gaps in the masonry are the result of German archaeologist Rudolf Kubesh removing more valuable frescoes from the church in the 1960s.
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The Church of Purgatorio, Matera
Don’t miss the visit to this beautiful church with its convex façade- the shape of an archbishop's mitre.
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The Church of San Giovanni Battista, Matera
Just outside the walls of the historical center of the city, this is one of the most important churches in Matera. It dates back to 1204 when it belonged to the Benedictine monks, who abandoned it soon afterwards in 1212. After a tumultuous history, the church was reopened as a place of worship in 1695
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Tramontano Castle, Matera
Built in 1501 by Giovanni Carlo Tramontano, Count of Matera, but never finished, the castle is above the historical centre of Matera, on Lapel Hill.
