Sassi di Matera: Cave Town History, Sights and Tips for Visiting

Carved into the side of a limestone ravine in Basilicata, the Sassi di Matera have been inhabited since the Palaeolithic: a city of cave houses, rock churches and stairways stacked one on top of another. Once called the “shame of Italy”, Matera is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was the 2019 European Capital of Culture.

What are the Sassi of Matera?

The Sassi (“stones”) are the two historic districts of Matera, Sasso Barisano and Sasso Caveoso, which climb the western side of the deep Gravina ravine. Between them, on the ridge called the Civita, stands the 13th-century Romanesque cathedral. Later districts grew around them: Casalnuovo in the 15th century and the “Piano” in the 17th and 18th centuries.

The first occupation of the area goes back to the Palaeolithic, and people lived here on into the Neolithic. Cave dwelling intensified from the 8th century AD. The earliest houses were simple caves closed off with walls of the blocks dug out of them; over the centuries façades, courtyards, churches and monasteries were added, one level above another. The UNESCO site covers 1,016 hectares with more than a thousand dwellings, shops and workshops.

From “shame of Italy” to World Heritage

In 1935 Mussolini’s regime exiled the writer and painter Carlo Levi to a village near Matera. His book Christ Stopped at Eboli exposed the extreme poverty of the region, and the overcrowded, unsanitary cave homes of the Sassi became a national scandal. A 1952 national law ordered their evacuation, and residents were moved to new districts on the plateau.

For decades the Sassi stood largely empty. Then restoration began, and in 1993 UNESCO inscribed “The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera” as a World Heritage Site, an outstanding example of a rock-cut settlement in harmony with its landscape for more than two millennia. In 2019 Matera became the first city in southern Italy to be named European Capital of Culture.

Things to see in Matera

• Piazzetta Pascoli: the panoramic balcony over the Sassi, named after the poet Giovanni Pascoli, and the best place to start.
• Casa Noha: in the Civita near the cathedral, this tufa house of the 16th-century de Noha family was given to the FAI in 2004. Its immersive film, narrated by Lella Costa, tells Matera’s story across two rooms, from its origins to the present (Casa Noha).
• Rock churches: cave churches such as Santa Maria de Idris and San Pietro Caveoso are scattered through the Sassi.
• The Murgia plateau: across the ravine, the Park of the Rupestrian Churches protects about 6,500 hectares of limestone plateau with cave churches, shepherd tracks and fortified farmhouses. The frescoed Crypt of the Original Sin lies outside the city.

Matera’s biblical look has drawn filmmakers for decades. Pier Paolo Pasolini shot The Gospel According to St. Matthew here, and Mel Gibson filmed The Passion of the Christ in Matera.

What to eat in Matera

Try the famous Matera bread, cialledda (a salad of softened bread and vegetables), pignata mutton and peperoni cruschi, the dried sweet peppers of Senise, a PGI product of Basilicata (official city guide).

Tips for visiting the Sassi

• Wear good shoes. The Sassi are a maze of steps and slopes, and distances that look short on a map often involve several levels.
• Stay in a cave hotel. Many former cave houses are now hotels and B&Bs; ask about daylight, ventilation and step-free access when booking.
• Visit early and late. Morning and evening are cooler for the steps, and the low light shows the layers of the Sassi best.
• Plan the Murgia separately. Trails across the ravine are a proper walk; check routes and conditions with local visitor information.

Exploring more of Italy? See Spello’s lanes and Roman mosaics and our Roman Forum guide. UNESCO details are on the UNESCO listing for the Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches and history in the national tourism account of Matera.

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