From the outside, Matera’s whitewashed cityscape has remained almost unchanged for the past 1,000 years. Duck into the sassi di Matera—its UNESCO-listed old town of cave dwellings that are among the oldest continually inhabited settlements in the world—and you’ll find chic modern restaurants, hotels, and shops that thrum with 21st-century vigor, however. Sassi tours through the nearly vertical historic center and excursions to the prehistoric cave homes and rupestrian churches in the surrounding Murgia National Park are among the best things to do in Matera.
Though slightly cooler than its southern Italian neighbors, Matera is still hot in the heart of summer, with average July highs hovering around 86°F (31°C). Travelers braving the heat can see the costumed processions and fireworks of the Festa della Bruna—the town’s most important religious festival—in early July. April tends to be rainy. May and June are drier, warmer, and beat the high travel season by a month or two.
Matera is served by buses and trains, but it’s in a relatively remote part of the Basilicata region where public transportation is not always reliable. Renting a car makes the most sense, but know that parking in the center of Matera is limited. Guided tours on foot or on Italian tuk-tuks (called Api) are a great way to experience the famed sassi—cave dwellings that were inhabited for nearly 7,000 years.
Nothing completes the Matera experience like spending the night in the sassi. Once dishonoring Matera with the nickname “the shame of Italy” for their squalor, the cave dwellings are now a local point of pride, with some having been converted into hotels. Accommodation options range from modest to luxurious—the budget-minded Locanda di San Martino and the four-star Hotel Sant’Angelo are good places to start.
