Why You Should Add Matera to Your Italy Itinerary

When you Google ‘Matera’ you get thrown images of cliff caves and incredible street scenery. Where we were, at a bus stop on a regular-looking street, reflected none of that. We all looked at each other. After travelling for a while you come to understand that not every place is reflective of its online presence, and that you can occasionally be catfished by a location.

We’d spent just over an hour on a bus winding through the countryside of Basilicata in southern Italy, and our first impression of Matera wasn’t what we were expecting – at all. I was travelling with my family – my Mum, Dad, brother, and sister. I’d taken on the role of ‘travel agent’ for our trip so I was really hoping that everything I’d booked would resemble what it looked like online!

We grabbed our bags and started walking towards the old town of Matera, to find our accommodation. Within about a kilometre we realised our first impressions were thankfully incorrect, as we walked through the central square to an amazing viewpoint over the Sassi Di Matera.

Why Matera?

I found Matera by chance when researching places to hike in Southern Italy on AllTrails. Murgia National Park, or Parco della Murgia Materana, appeared well after larger names on the list, such as the Dolomites. But after finding out that Matera had been inhabited since the Palaeolithic era (aka, the Stone Age!), and that we’d have the opportunity to stay inside one of the caves themselves, I was sold on adding it to the itinerary.

In its heyday, Matera was a troglodyte city, meaning it was inhabited by people who lived in caves. It’s thought to potentially be the third oldest continually inhabited establishment in the world, behind Aleppo and Jericho. The Sassi Di Matera are the two ‘cave districts’ of Matera, known as Sassi Caveoso and Sassi Barisano. They consist of cave dwellings dug into calcarenite rock, weaving between and around places of worship, with the street systems often running on top of these dwellings.

Sadly, Matera features a dark history of poverty and disease. It was widely considered the ‘shame of Italy’, and in the 1950s the residents were forcefully moved up into modern Matera, the area of the city in which we got off the bus. 

With this in mind, the streets were incredible to walk down, lined with wall-to-wall dwellings, winding passageways, and cobblestones that seriously challenged the tread on my Birkenstocks. Areas of the town felt secret, as some of the town remains in disrepair or in the process of historical restoration. 

After checking into our incredibly unique accommodation, a renovated cave dwelling (Aqua Cave), we walked around the city as the sun began to set. It was predictably warm, given we’d timed our visit for mid-July, the middle of the European summer. While we were excited to hike in the Parco Regionale della Murgia Materana, the national park bordering the Sassi region, we were a bit concerned about hiking in 40°C heat in full sun!

Fortunately, we ran into an older man who was sitting outside his home with a bunch of stray cats, of which there are many in Matera. He told us that he’d lived there for many years and that the many renovations, incredible restaurants, and newer dwellings around town were a gentrification effort by the Italian government. Apparently, the town had swelled with popularity after being the set location for the James Bond film No Time to Die. 

Making Plans

We eventually spoke to him about the hiking trail we were planning to visit in Murgia Materana, which at the time had a small metal gate across it but no further signage. He said that the gate was to deter unprepared hikers from heading down into the gorge. The Sassi were declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2007, and as such are popular year-round to visit, but as a result, they also attract those who have done little research on the place. 

Armed with this information from a local, we planned to hike the following evening when it was cooler, leaving as late as possible, but with enough daylight to make it back.

Hiking the Belvedere Murgia Timone Trail

Distance: 4.5km
Duration: 2 hours
Elevation: 234m
Routa data: AllTrails

That next evening, we set out to hike across the Gravina Canyon. It isn’t a long walk, but it’s steep and slippery so good shoes are necessary. My brother and I both travel with hiking shoes so this wasn’t a problem. We jumped the gate and headed down the track.

It was steep and relatively unmaintained, so the hiking shoes were a good call. And it was hot. Really hot. Views unfolded into the canyon and we somewhat slid our way down the Tibetan suspension bridge that allowed us to cross over to the other side of the canyon. As we started weaving our way upwards, the Sassi cave formations began to appear and we could walk unrestricted into most. 

Carlo Levi, an Italian author, and artist who published a memoir in 1945 called Christ Stopped at Eboli, described the cave dwellings as tragically beautiful. Back in the day the caves were occupied by many people as well as their livestock, and both were riddled with disease. A local museum displays a photograph of children suffering from trachoma – an eye infection caused by fly larvae. 

Malaria and dysentery were also common, as well as high child mortality, so when walking through the current, empty, clean cave systems it’s quite a contrast to the history of the place. There are also a couple of barred-off caves which used to be churches, with art and artefacts inside. We stood in the caves and looked back at the old town of Matera, with differing viewpoints depending on which cave we were in.

Eventually we ventured back across the bridge. The age and history of the Sassi created an atmosphere that made us feel small and irrelevant in relation to the lives and experiences that the place around us had seen. Our visit left us with an irreverent feeling that we couldn’t quite put our finger on.

Matera Won’t Be Quiet for Long

We really enjoyed walking and seeing so few other people on the trail through Sassi di Matera – despite visiting during peak season. Being able to explore the caves on our own was such a contrast to our other experiences in Italy in July, which were fraught with tourists and related red tape.

We have the distinct feeling that our experience may not be what other tourists get to enjoy as the area becomes more well-known. With the growing popularity of a tourist destination comes added visitors with added restrictions. 

Matera is currently in the sweet spot – it’s still very busy with the tourist economy, but not overcrowded to the point that it’s difficult to enjoy your time there. It made such a unique mark on our itinerary and added a historical element to our time in Basilicata.

If you’re planning a trip to southern Italy, don’t skip Matera, or else you risk missing a beautiful area with a strong cultural presence that hasn’t yet been marred by overtourism. 

The unrestricted access we experienced in being able to walk in and around these cave systems isn’t likely to last forever. Whether you want to sleep in a cave, eat amazing food, hike into the Gravina, or simply appreciate the thousands of years of history at your feet, Matera is somewhere to visit sooner, rather than later.

Want to explore caves closer to home?

• Overnight Hike To Pindar Cave in Brisbane Water National Park
• Bushrangers Caves of Mount Wagawn (QLD)
• 5 Caves to Crawl Into Near Sydney 2024