Top Matera Eco Tours

Matera is home to the Sassi cave churches and dwellings that make up one of the oldest cities in the world. Join your guide for an in-depth tour of the Sasso Caveoso and Sasso Barisano districts to learn about their unique history and evolution. Discover rupestrian structures, stroll the steep and narrow lanes, and gain a deeper understanding of how this town, once called the “Shame of Italy”, is now a UNESCO-listed treasure.

The UNESCO World Heritage-listed rock city of Matera stretches over a steep cliff, so exploring it on foot can be tiring. Explore as much as possible without getting tired with this tour aboard an authentic Italian Ape Calessino (Tuk Tuk). Zip through the streets of the historic Sasso Caveoso neighborhood to admire the main churches and squares and snap photos of the famous cave houses and views of the surrounding valley.

Cover more ground and explore the UNESCO-listed Sassi di Matera cave churches and dwellings in less than an hour with this Ape Calessino tour. Buzz through the steep, narrow lanes to see highlights in the Barisano and Caveoso districts plus Civita, the town's historic center. Learn about the history of this unique cliffside town from your driver and guide and pause to admire the top sights and snap photos.

The UNESCO-listed Sassi di Matera is both captivating and mysterious. With this guided tour, take a deep dive into the history of this unique rupestrian city, named a 2019 European Capital of Culture. Explore its hidden dwellings and churches carved directly into the cliff, the setting for a number of films, including Ben Hur.

Private panoramic tour of the historic districts of the city, aboard the historic Ape Calessino Piaggio. You will not share the tour with other guests.

Unveil the secrets of the ancient “cave city” of Matera with this in-depth walking tour through the UNESCO-listed Sassi. Delve into the history of this unique city dug into the cliffside and visit a cave house and rupestrian churches in its two oldest districts. Learn about how residents once lived, marvel at the cathedral set at the town’s upper square, and take in sweeping views over the Murgia Materana Park.

We will start with a small breakfast under the patriarch olive tree, in an old countryside. Later we will go through the caverns of an ancient farmhouse. Under the centuries-old olive trees we will taste Matera bread and prepare a traditional dish from Matera, "la cialledda", which tells of the encounter between the typical bread of Matera, now stale, and the vegetables and mixed salads of the Lucanian land. All this will take place in a laboratory, at the end of which we will share this meal as even today the olive pickers do in their breaks. The cialledda will be accompanied by Primitivo wine and from the bundle containing Lucanian Slow Food Presidium products: Caciocavallo Podolico, Baked olives from Ferrandina and Pezzente salami from the Matera mountains. We will also be cheered by the sounds of popular instruments and the songs of the Matera tradition.