Y’all…..I was BLOWN AWAY by the ancient city of Matera in the southern part of Italy.
When people think of Italy, they go to Rome, Venice, Milan, Tuscany….there’s literally SO many places in Italy worth visiting. BUT please hear me out….and visit the southern region!!!
Especially MATERA! (sorry for yelling)
Puglia, which is where I went in September 2023, has sooo many incredible places to see and explore. You may recognize Matera if you’ve seen James Bond No Time to Die, The Passion of the Christ and Wonder Woman!
So take a seat because we are gonna take a little history lesson….if you wanna skip class. Go ahead and scroll down for our itinerary…here’s your hall pass 🗒️
Matera is considered one of the oldest cities in the WORLD! A lot of people will differ about this but I’ve read too many articles and literally watched every documentary about Matera now and it’s true… IT IS one of the oldest continually inhabited cities in the world! It dates back to the Palaeolithic period! That’s 10th millenium BC!! Since it’s perched on a mountaintop people carved caves and small caverns to live in. This happened all the way up until the 1950’s! These homes were not safe and quite dangerous and there was poverty surrounding the area. The Italian government wasn’t very fond of this and dubbed Matera “the shame of Italy” so people were forced out of their cave homes to also stop the spread of disease. Fast forwarding to present day…Matera is one of the Unesco World Heritage sites and is bustling with boutique hotels and restaurants and cafes
Ok class dismissed. I will continue with our trip.
While Matera is not actually considered in the Puglia region…the airport we flew into is, Bari (BRI)✈️
From Bari, we rented a car (which took forever, highly suggest y’all book one in advance 😅) and drove 45ish minutes to Matera 🚗
Now something about Matera, they don’t actually let most cars in the area. With our hotel that we booked, we had to park in a parking garage where a hotel van was waiting to take us into the city. Sounds a lil sketch I know, lol, but we did it, no problem!
After a 5 minute drive we literally turned the corner and BAM! There was the city perched up on the mountain ⛰️ we were too stunned to speak! We were not expecting the view we viewed lol 🫨
Cheeky coffee, Matera at night, ancient church
We stayed at Sant’Angelo Luxury Resort. And wow, have you ever stayed in luxury cave? Is it on your bucket list? Because it should be!
The area of the hotel is quite perfect and overlooks 2 churches across the way and the river that runs thru the city. Along with some untouched caves that we could see from our room! 😍
There were 3 of us and we fit in the room quite comfortably. It was the view and the surrounding area that we just could not get over!!
Lobby area, hotel room, sitting area outside our room
- Walking tour is definitely the most popular! 🚶🏻♂️
We booked thru our hotel and it was 2 hours of going up and down the city steps. So please wear comfy shoes!! Our walking tour took us to a few stunning churches, a real cave home and just the most incredible views!
- Explore a real cave home! 🏡
We visited Casa Grotta while on our walking tour. This is a real cave home filled with antique furniture. While you are inside, a narration in your preferred language will come on detailing the space and lifestyle of the room back when it would have been used.
- Tour by Ape Calessinon 🛵
This tour of the city is a lot shorter, but you’re in a small little Ape car. We did debate on this one, but were told you just can’t skip out on the walking tour! But if you’re not keen on walking a lot, this tour on a small lil scooter car will be perfect.
- Trek the rupestrian churches ⛪️
If you stay at Sant’Angelo, directly across from you you’ll see rocks with caves built in them. These are ancient churches that began Materas development from the ninth century!! I can’t even comprehend that time period, it’s so fascinating to me!
- Take a cooking class 👩🏻🍳
We did not take a cooking class while in Matera, but did see several advertisements for it! I love food and trying the local eats, but our time here was quite short so we couldn’t fit this in.
- Visit Palombaro Lungo 💦
Ok now THIS blew my mind. Think of this as a huge well collecting rainwater, it dates back to the 15th century! It’s literally a huge man made cave that could be filled with 5 million liters of water! People knew of this cave but didn’t know exactly how big it was until 1991 when it was explored for the first time.
- Make your way up to Piazza Vittorio Veneta
You’ll be at the top of the city here! Everywhere you turn will have amazing views! Also great place to shop for all your Matera souvenirs and cafes and restaurants.
Cave home at Casa Grotta, Matera archways, scenic stop, repustrian churches
- Il Terrazzino, Ristorante Pizzeria. Great lunch menus! Like many places in the area, it’s built into a cave! Have a look inside past the curtains and visit their incredible wine cellar dating back to the year 1600!! 🍷
- Zippa Cafe. A hip cafe and bar literally built in the rocks. We sat on rocks with nice cushions. The bruschetta was amazing along with the views! 🍅
- RegiaCorte, located at our hotel. Oh… this place was absolutely amazing! An incredible view! You can order a la carte or their recommended 3 course meal. You can pick from vegetarian course, sea or meat. and wow! This an experience. 🤯 I recommend making a reservation!
- Breakfast was included in our stay. And I know I keep saying wow, but WOW! It’s actually the same restaurant as RegiaCorte, but the day time view is just as incredible. And their breakfast buffet room is the most beautiful room I’ve been in. That sounds weird but I literally gasped when I went in! 🍳
Breakfast views, wine cellar from 1600 and tomatoes on bread that I dream about
Anyways….that’s my Matera experience for yall. Not lying my friends and I literally message each other every day saying how we miss Matera! And now my mom is wanting to go…and I would absolutely go back!!! I hope yall do to because it really is incredible!!!!
Kitty&Co. 