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September 2023 Matera Blog
Today was a long travel day for us as we traveled by train/bus
from Naples to Matera where our OAT Pre-Tour of Puglia will start in 4
days. We took one of Italy’s high speed
trains from Naples to Salerno where we transferred to the bus link for the rest
of the journey. After arriving in
Matera, we took a taxi to our hotel, the Hotel Residence San Gorgio where we
settled in for 3 days on our own exploring the unique town of Matera. Our hotel is located in the Civita part of
Matera with parts of the hotel having been built from some of the existing cave
homes. We have some absolutely stunning
views from the area around our hotel, especially at night when everything is
all lit up. Our room has a large sitting
room with a table for eating breakfast.
A typical Matera breakfast consists of their delicious dense bread,
butter and jam, and sliced ham and cheese.
All of these were provided in our room in addition to several flavors of
yogurt, juice boxes, three boxes of cereal, a bowl of cherry tomatoes and a
large bowl of fruit. Milk, tea and
coffee were also available, in addition to a bag of very delicious chocolate
chip cookies and little chocolate pies.
We will definitely not go hungry as these items were replenished each
day. Our bedroom was up a flight of
stairs to a loft area. We just had to be
extra careful getting up in the middle of the night as the stairs were not lit
and they had a 90 degree turn in the middle (but I am glad to report, there
were no accidents!).
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| View from our Hotel |
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| View from our Hotel |
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| Matera Skyline |
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| Night View of Matera |
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| Our Hotel |
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| Our Very Tiny Shower |
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| Stairs leading to Bedroom |
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| Our Bedroom |
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| The Living Area |
Matera,
known as the “Citta dei sassi” (City of Stone) is a small town located on
the west side of a canyon carved out by the Gravina River in the Puglia region
of Italy. Today, with about 60,000
residents, it sits among fields of wheat, olive groves, and grape vines, along
the ancient Roman road, the Appian Way.
But that was not always the case.
While the modern
city of Matera is built on a plateau above the canyon walls, the original,
historic area is built along and down the walls of the canyon. There are three parts to it – (1) Civita, the
oldest part of Matera which sits between
the two large sassi (meaning the stones) – (2) Sassi Barisano (northern
area) and (3) Sassi Caveoso (southern section). These two sassi are referred to
as the Sassi of Matera (or just plain Sassi).
The Civita was the town’s first settlement and was built on a hill that
overlooks the Gravina River about 4000 years ago. It was once surrounded by Roman walls that
were built to protect the homes of the noble families during the Middle
Ages. The walls have now all been torn
down. The skyline of the Civita is
dominated by Cathedral of Matera.
Believed
to be the oldest city in Italy and Europe, archaeologists think that the Sassi
have been inhabited for about 10,000 years with artifacts found in the caves
that date back to the pre-Neolithic times.
Located in one of the drier areas of Southern Italy without much running
water from rivers, the inhabitants dug cisterns in their cave dwellings to
catch the water from underground seepage and the snow that sometimes fell in
the winter.
Over
the centuries, Matera played a key role in the wool trade as the city was a
vital stop for sheep herders and their flocks to pass through. But with the 20th century came the
invention of artificial fabrics and cheaper wool sources, and this once
flourishing city, which had enjoyed a continuous inhabited line from
pre-history to the modern age, became a national disgrace with its people
living in abject poverty. The people of
Matera continued to live in these humid caves, void of running water and
electricity, along with their animals until the 1950’s. After the publication of a book by an exiled
Italian author that highlighted the squalor conditions that the people of
Matera lived in, the Italian government built new public housing around the
city and moved almost 20,000 residents from their cave homes in the Sassi.
The Sassi remained uninhabited until a 1964
film The Gospel According to Matthew reawakened interest in area, as its
beautiful landscape with no signs of modernity made it the perfect setting to
represent the Holy Land and Jerusalem. In
addition to this film, parts of The Passion of the Christ with Mel
Gibson, the 2015 remake of Ben Hur, the 2021 James Bond movie No time
to Die, and the 2017 Wonder Woman were filmed here. During the 60’s and 70’s, the caves became
popular with hippies and artists, but the local population was not happy with
the area becoming associated with the drug scene. This created the momentum needed by the local
population to restore the Sassi as a proud part of their culture. In the 80’s, the government provided grants
to the citizens of Matera for this restoration, and in 1993, as a result of
this initiative, UNESCO declared Matera to be a World Heritage Site as it was
the most outstanding, intact example of a troglodyte (cave dwelling) settlement
in the Mediterranean region. Today some
of the cave structures have been turned into hotels, B&Bs, and restaurants,
and in direct contrast to its naysayers that called it a national disgrace in
1945, it was declared European Capital of Culture in 2019.
Across the river from the two Sassi
districts, is the Murgia Materana Park which contains the Chiese Rupestri – 156
churches built inside the caves that contain beautiful frescoes created by
Benedictine Monks during the 700-800 AD period.
We will visit this park in a couple of days.
Our days will
be filled with walking up and down the cobblestone streets, climbing many
stairs as the city is built on the side of a mountain, and admiring the many
churches and homes that were built in the dug-out caves on the side of the
mountain. I should have no trouble
reaching my goal of 10,000 steps on this part of the tour. We will have 3 days on our own exploring this area before we join our Overseas Adventure Pre-tour of Puglia.
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