7:00 – 8:00 – 9:00 – 10 am
airports, railway station, ports and hotels all through Italy.
approximately 8 hours
Tip
In this wonderful private tour you will visit one of the oldest cities not only in Italy but in the whole world, Matera!
In particular, you will visit the “Sassi di Matera”, Sasso Caveoso and Sasso Barisano, which are the two main settlements that form most of the city of Matera and which date back to prehistoric times. In fact, it is no coincidence that Matera was named European Capital of Culture in 2019.
You will be escorted into the city by one of our expert drivers who will drive you to your destination in total comfort and safety and bring you back to your intended starting point after a beautiful and relaxing tour that will truly enrich your mind and soul!
Matera is the third oldest city in the world after Aleppo and Jericho. The name of the city has so many theories around it as some say it comes from the word “mata” which means our rock. There are many testimonies of the Stone Age city that can be found in museums such as the Domenico Ridola National Archaeological Museum. Many consider the city to be of Greek origin because it has many symbols of ancient Greece.
The city of Matera was born during the Norman period, and there was a wall that protected it. It remained their capital of the basilica until 1806 before being transferred to Potenza city. Subsequently, in 1927, the city became the capital of the province of Matera and subsequently in 1943 Pietro opposed the German occupation.
A prosperous Matera of the past was the capital of Basilicata in 1663 and held this office until 1806 when it was then transferred to Potenza. Many decades later there was an inadequate demographic increase that made the inhabitants go into unsuitable caves that were intended for stables for animals, these areas did not even have running water. These harsh conditions forced the people to have a fierce and independent spirit.
The city has now been awarded the European Capital of Culture for 2019 in Italy, among other cities. The town was previously deserted when the inhabitants were resettled but later, in the 1970’s they started to return and settle and now the Sassi of Matera have been restored and are home to many restaurants, shops and many people’s homes. Matera is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the city’s reconstruction process must meet specific criteria so that the city’s historical integrity is maintained. People who are willing to invest in the city can get long-term leases from the Italian government because it owns almost 70% of the land.
Matera is the oldest and most uninterrupted inhabited area in Italy and history also where people have lived for more than 7000 years in the caves. It’s a perfect place to wander and get lost, and some people will recommend getting a guide rather than exploring on your own. There are many excellent atmospheric and excellent options where you can stay in Matera. The town has classy cave restaurants, bars, shops and good residential areas.
Matera is famous for its exceptional historic center, in particular for its most characteristic districts, the Sasso “Caveoso” and the Sasso “Barisano”, which together with the “Civita” district form a complex urban nucleus, today called Sassi of Matera , since 1993 included by UNESCO in the list of World Heritage Sites. “Sasso” means district carved into the rock, and the Sassi of Matera are literally carved close to a deep ravine, the Gravina.
The rock of the promontory where the Sassi developed consists mainly of calcarenite, locally called tuff, a sedimentary rock of marine origin, soft and easily modeled and excavated. This has allowed the formation of numerous natural caves, facilitating man’s ingenious work with the excavation and recovery of building material, and allowing him to dig more space in the house, channels and cisterns, the so-called negative architecture.
The natural caves, numerous in the Matera area, were the first dwellings of man, who did not passively submit to the forms of nature but appropriated them, determining paths and architectures in the cave by digging and modelling.
The orography of the territory and the nature of the rock have favored human settlement since prehistoric times, and today we tend to place the first population in the area in the Neolithic age. Matera is the only place in the world where the inhabitants can say they live in the same houses as their ancestors did 9,000 years ago. In fact, Matera is considered one of the oldest cities in the world, as well as the oldest where there has been continuity of life.
