10 Things to do in Matera, Italy Travel Guide

Join us as we visit Matera, Italy in this travel guide covering top attractions, things to do and food worth eating in "la Città Sotterranea" (the Subterranean City). As one of our favorite cities we visited from our trip to Europe and around Italy Matera is somewhere you go to get lost around every corner. As one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, you'll find yourself exploring caves, the historical center 'sassi' and UNESCO heritage churches along with eating delicious Italian food. An exciting announcement is that Matera was declared Italian host of European Capital of Culture for 2019.
1) Chiesa rupestre di San Pietro Barisano
2) Convent of Saint Agostino
3) Cathedral of Matera
4) Chiesa di Santa Maria di Idris
5) Murgia National Park
6) La Grotta nei Sassi Restaurant
7) Storica Casa Grotta di vico Solitario
8) Palombaro Lungo - Underground Matera Tour
9) Ristorante Nadi
10) Matera at Night
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Our visit Matera travel guide documentary covers some of the top attractions including a food guide to Italian cuisine, top sightseeing tourist attractions and the city by day and night including visiting churches, parks, the old town 'sassi', quirky neighborhoods, museums and caves. We also cover off-the-beaten-path outdoor activities you won't find in a typical Matera tourism brochure, Matera itinerary or Matera city tour also known as Matera, Italia.
10 Things to do in Matera, Italy Travel Guide Food Video Transcript:
One destination that’s been at the very top of our travel bucket list for a while now is Matera, and on this trip to Italy, we were determined to make it happen!
Nicknamed “the stone city”, Matera has been quite literally dug out of the rock, and it’s a sight you won’t soon forget. Set on the slope of a rocky ravine, the landscape is dominated by cave dwellings, zigzagging staircases, and early churches that hold some incredible frescoes once you set foot inside.
During our visit, we stayed in the “sassi”, which is the ancient town, and in our opinion, the best way to soak in the vibe of this place.
Now in this video, we’re going to take you on a tour of the city and show you some of the things you can see, do and eat when you visit Matera.
Matera is well-known for its rupestrian churches, carved into the rock and covered in frescoes.
We first stopped by Chiesa Rupestre di San Pietro Barisano, which is the largest rock church in the city of Matera.
We wanted to show you the frescoes, so we continued to Convento di Sant’Agostino, a church and convent dating back to the late 16th Century. We started walking uphill via a series of staircases and winding streets, until we found ourselves in front of Matera Cathedral.
The rocky landscape we noticed is called Murgia (MoorJa) National Park and it’s an archaeological site with cliffs, gorges & caves.
Let’s take a quick break to introduce you to Materan cuisine. Like most of the establishments in Matera, this restaurant was set in a cave and we ate pasta, wine & dessert?
We spent a lot of time visiting cave churches, but for a look at how locals lived in these troglodyte dwellings, we visited Casa Grotta.
The Sassi District is a made up of a network of dwellings carved into the steep slopes of the valley walking into the Casa Grotta.
We visited Palombaro Lungo, a massive water cistern that sits directly under Matera’s main square.
After visiting Palombaro Lungo, we also found ourselves in front of the ruins of Chiesa del Santo Spirito. The church sits beneath Piazza Vittorio Veneto where you can make out frescoes on the walls.
Continuing our quest for Materan cuisine, we ended up at Ristorante Nadi - another cave restaurant that we stumbled upon by chance to see if we could get through a 4 course meal.
Our final recommendation for Matera would be to explore the city at night. Matera looks magical between sunset and blue hour and it was a pleasure to wander around with camera in hand.
And that’s a wrap for Matera! We hope you guys enjoyed discovering Italy’s famed Stone City, and we’ll see you soon with more videos from Italy.
This is part of our Travel in Italy video series showcasing Italian food, Italian culture and Italian cuisine.
Music in this video courtesy of Birocratic: