A slow traveler’s guide to stepping back in time in Matera, Italy.
Perhaps it is just us, but don’t you feel like travel has completely changed since the start of the pandemic? Popular, crowded, touristy are quickly being replaced by slow, meaningful and unique. Traveling to a place is more about the experience than simply checking things off a bucket list, right?
Hanna Amy, an avid traveler and photographer, shares with us a slow traveler’s itinerary of exploring Matera, a small town in Italy. She says, Matera will leave an imprint on you, where the walls sweat history and the rugged facade is made to be photographed.
From Hanna,
You will need a good pair of walking shoes and plenty of space on your camera roll when you travel to Matera – a small town in Southern Italy. Let yourself step back in time as you walk between the walls of this old Italian town located in the Basilicata mountains. Almost biblical, the ancient part of Matera (called Sassi which translates to “stones”) is where the beauty lies, wrapped into cave homes and cobblestone pathways that blend into the stone cliff it sits on. This UNESCO site is unlike any other and varies much from traditional Italy, attracting many globetrotters. 
Matera is the first protected UNESCO site crowned as the European City of Culture and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in history, dating back to the Palaeolithic period.
Despite its overwhelming beauty and what it represents today, Matera has a grim and sorrowful past. In the 1950s it was considered the shame of Italy as it suffered from extreme poverty alongside where malaria and famine roamed free. Originating from the Old Stone Age, people carved homes into the stone walls where they lived alongside with their stock of animals. Living standards of Matera were so low at the time that WWII political prisoners were sent to live there as punishment. Education was non-existent, death rate was high and life was difficult and minimal. Nevertheless, life got better after the war when the Italian government relocated people to live in the new part of the town and today Matera thrives from its haunted past. Today, the old part of town fills a series of limestone grottoes with hidden luxurious hotels and delicious restaurants teetering on the edge of a ravine, making it the perfect cultural stopover if you are travelling in Italy.
Getting to Matera Italy
The first glimpse of the Sassi will make you stop. If you arrive by car, there is parking around the new part of town and hotels will help assist you on where to leave it. You move by foot in the old town and once you plunge into the kaleidoscope of limestone, it will simply take your breath away. Buildings are literally piled on top of each other climbing up and down the hillside all connected between mazelike streets. Explore the neighborhoods Sasso Barisano and Sasso Caveoso by aimless roaming and be prepared for uneven stone staircases, stunning courtyards, cave churches and unconditional raw beauty.
Piazza Vittorio Veneto is the centre of Matera that leads to numerous pathways to discover and beautiful restoration work. Matera’s imperfections make the town that much more perfect. It is rough on the outside, but perfectly intimate and sophisticated on the inside. You feel the old energy in the air, it’s romantic and visually appealing with adorned flower pots on alleyways and the sound of pigeons cooing as the evening progresses. It is easy to imagine the struggle of life decades ago, where the walls do all the talking without any words needed.
Things to see in Matera Italy
Make your way from the top of the town down to the scenic piazza that overlooks the Neolithic caves across from Sassi. Sample antipasti (especially the robust bread and cheese that are famous in the region) as much as you can and as evening falls, indulge in comforting orrechietti dishes in one of the scenic restaurants, like Il Terrazzino.
Matera is all about hearty foods, that comfort you between the tucked walls of a rough exterior. Marvel at the architecture, stop for a cooling prosecco as the intense sun traps in the stone walls and soaks in the charm of old Italy. Stroll through the market where you can smell the lemons on the stalls and while your gelato melts against your hand in the heat of the day, admire the sunbaked roses that erect against the stone walls.
Allow Matera to show what simple pleasures are all about, that actually portray the Southern Italian way of living, to a tee. We visited Museo della Scultura contemporanea, which makes brilliant use of the caves where the actual building is as interesting as the contemporary sculptures. There are signposted walking routes which visitors can follow or simply grab a city map from your hotel reception and loosely follow the routes around Sassi di Matera. We visited a few art galleries, but mainly just wandered within the stone walls and stopped at cosy places to eat and drink.
Where to stay in Matera
We have stayed twice in Matera and from this you can say that, the hotels are all a part of the cave like experience. We stayed in Corte San Pietro & La Dimora di Metello but the known Sextantio Le Grotto Della Civita, is globally famous for its rural beauty. Watch the sun go down and gaze over the sprinkling of lights of the town over a glass of red wine and salty anchovy olives. Once you have imprinted the view of Matera in your head, take a relaxing bubble bath in your grotto hotel room allowing your legs to rest after a long day of walking. Italy is filled with beautiful cities to discover, but architecturally Matera varies from them all and is worth visiting. 
Now that travelling again is something we can slowly start dreaming about in the distant future, we allow our imagination to spark our interests. Old Matera is made for falling in love, unspoiled by mass tourism and a community that respects its past. Sassi is filled with rich culture and undiscovered air, and a history that will move you to tears. 
While traveling is not directly on our minds at the moment, we can slowly start dreaming, can’t we? Where do you want to go on your next adventure?
{Photo and Words by Hanna Kirstiina Amy, Website: www.xoamys.com, Instagram: @xoamysnordic }
0 Comments