| Park of the Murgia Materana | |
 | |
| Area type | Supra-municipal park |
|---|---|
| State | Italy |
| Region | Basilicata |
| Territory | Materano |
| Surface | 6128 ha |
| Foundation year | 1990 |
| Institutional website | |
Park of the Murgia Materana (or natural historical archaeological park of the rupestrian churches of Materano), is a protected area located in Basilicata.
To know
Geographical notes
The park is located at the eastern end of Basilicata, near the border with Puglia. In its territory there is the Gravina di Matera, a deep calcareous furrow at the bottom of which the homonymous stream flows which, after having skirted the Sassi of Matera and touched the built-up area of Montescaglioso, it flows into the Bradano river after about twenty kilometers.
The park territory extends substantially along the left bank of the Gravina di Matera and continues south. It also includes a strip of land that runs along the Gravina stream west of Matera.
One of the most important features of the park area is the presence of about 150 rock churches scattered along the Murgia and the Gravine. Since the early Middle Ages, the presence of both Benedictine and Byzantine monastic communities has been recorded throughout the area. The numerous places of worship, often embellished with frescoes and engravings, are the most spectacular testimony of the rock settlement. The churches have a single hall or two or three naves; sometimes they end in apses often preceded by transepts. In some cases there are domes made by means of a lenticular excavation.
Flora and fauna
Flora
The park includes 923 species, of which about a hundred are rare and very rare, 61 those newly reported for the Lucanian flora and finally 36 are the endemic and subendemic species. Various herbaceous species are widespread which give rise to forms of vegetation in garrigue, including shrub thyme (Thymus capitatus), spinosetto thyme (Thymus spinulosus), silver sage (Salvia argentea), and neophytes such as Thomas saffron (Crocus thomasii), Basilicata spring onion (Gagea chrysantha), l Muscat garlic (Allium moschatum) and Mediterranean asphodel (Asphodelus microcarpus). Among the rock flora we find among others the Kummel of Greece (Carum multiflorum), the Apulian bellflower (Campanula versicolor) and the Gargano cornflower (Centaurea subtilis). The most common tree species in the area are the fragno (Quercus troiana), the holm oak (Quercus ilex) and the downy oak (Quercus pubescens).
Finally, there are many species of Mediterranean scrub shrubs including the mastic (Pistacia lentiscus), the terebinth (Pistacia terebinthus), the phillyrea (Phillyrea angustifolia), the red juniper (Juniperus oxycedrus) and the olive tree (Olea oleaster).
Fauna
The symbol of the park is the lesser kestrel (Falco naumanni), called in dialect u strjscìgnl, a small bird of prey found in numerous colonies throughout the Matera area, which often nests on the roofs of the Sassi di Matera. Other birds of prey in the area are the Egyptian vulture, which is the smallest European vulture, the buzzard and the red kite.
Regarding the terrestrial fauna, it is possible to meet among the paths or hidden in the Mediterranean scrub specimens of porcupine, foxes, stone martens, badgers, hedgehogs, turtles, wild boars, hares, even wolves spotted.Among the reptiles we find the snake, the cervone, the viper common and some specimens of leopard coluber.Finally, along the vegetation that runs along the watercourses of the Gravine, it is possible to hear the song of the river nightingale and the wren.
Background
The Basilicata Region established the Murgia Materana park in 1990 with the aim of protecting, recovering and enhancing the Murgia Materana area, affected by the presence of prehistoric and historical archeology, and of safeguarding and enhancing the rocky habitat and the heritage of the rock churches falling within the territory of the municipalities of Matera and Montescaglioso.
How to get
Permits / Rates
- 1 Jazzo Gattini Visitor Center (Environmental Education Center), Contrada Murgia Timone (along the S.S. 7 towards Taranto up to km 583 and following the signs for "Parco della Murgia Materana"), ☎ 39 0835 332262, 39 388 8925407, 39 327 7333016, fax: 39 0835 1970751, @[email protected].
Mon-Sun from April to October 9: 30-18: 30, from November to March 9: 30-16: 30. The Environmental Education Center has a shuttle bus for transfer to the Park from Matera city (by telephone booking). Guided hikes for a fee start from here. Registration fees include: guide service, access ticket to rock churches, insurance, VAT, video projection of the Park.
Mon-Sun from April to October 9: 30-18: 30, from November to March 9: 30-16: 30. The Environmental Education Center has a shuttle bus for transfer to the Park from Matera city (by telephone booking). Guided hikes for a fee start from here. Registration fees include: guide service, access ticket to rock churches, insurance, VAT, video projection of the Park.How to get around
Parco della Murgia Materana: full screen map.The park is quite large but above all it is divided into two distinct parts, for this reason the use of the car is necessary, at least for some specific points. The part near the Sassi di Matera can be reached on foot as an excursion.
- 2 Parking of the belvedere. This point can be reached by car via a dirt road.
What see
The rupestrian churches of Matera, founded mainly in the early Middle Ages, are buildings carved into the rock. Over time they have undergone various transformations of use, becoming homes or shelters for animals. They are an important testimony of the presence of communities of Benedictine, Lombard and Byzantine monks. In addition, some churches, despite their substantial Latin setting, have Byzantine elements, or vice versa, architecturally Greek churches have liturgical spaces of the Latin type. In the Middle Ages, small communities of lay people and monks who immigrated from the areas of Cappadocia, Armenia, Syria ed Asia Minor, after having lost the possibilities of worship, they took refuge in these caves which became places of prayer.
- 1 Sanctuary of the Madonna della Palomba, Contrada Pedale della Palomba, SS7 (on the Murgia almost overhanging the Gravina di Matera), ☎ 390835310050. It is located near a cave where a fresco with the Byzantine image of the Virgin and child was venerated. Starting in 1580, a new church was built. The facade shows a rose window and a bell gable, while the interior with a nave preserves the ancient fresco dating back to around the thirteenth century.
- 2 Crypt of Santa Maria della Palomba (near the Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Palomba). The environment consists of a simple rectangular nave covered by a humpback vault. The rooms above, now almost totally collapsed, bear the date of 1645. On the rock wall against which the altar is placed, there are frescoes of considerable importance, discovered in 1965 during a survey carried out by the group of scholars belonging to the La Scaletta circle. In the present frescoes we can recognize a Madonna dressed in a red cloak, a Saint Nicholas with an ocher face and a blessing Child. Other frescoes are placed on a concave rock wall, probably the original apse of the crypt.
- 3 Chapel of San Giovanni da Matera. The crypt has a rectangular shape and has a flat ceiling interrupted by a hub pillar. The presbytery, slightly raised, has an apsidal niche at the bottom with a framed parabolic arch and placed on two steps.
- 4 Chapel of Sant'Andrea (annexed to the Masseria Irene). The chapel is part of a rupestrian complex formed by some rocky cavities, from service areas to the farm such as, for example, the jazzo and the shepherds' dormitory.
- Church of Santi Simeone e Giuda. During the Angevin period, the church was elevated to a parish to allow women to take part in religious services without being bothered by French soldiers. Today very few traces of the ancient place of worship remain.
- 5 Church of the Madonna degli Angeli, Path of the Madonna degli Angeli, ☎ 39 0835 336166. The church has a single room divided into three spaces.
- Below is a list of the frescoes with their relative dates: - Sant'Antonio, sec. XVI-XVII - San Michele (?), Sec. XIII-XIV - Madonna with Child, sec. XIV-XV - San Nicola, sec. XIII - Holy monk, sec. XVI-XVII - San Nicola (?), Sec. XII - San Gilio, sec. XIV - Santa Sofia, sec. XIII
- 6 Church of Our Lady of the Cross (on the opposite side of the Gravina stream. The path leading to the church starts from the lookout reachable from the Appia, with a journey of about half an hour). The church dates back to the 11th century and is entirely carved into the rock with a vault on two spans. On the ceiling of the first room, after the entrance, you can see a carved equilateral cross, which gives the church its name. On the apse, there is a fresco with the blessing Madonna seated on the throne and with Child.
- 7 Church of Our Lady of the Virgins (on the opposite side of the Gravina stream from the Sassi di Matera). It is the only rock church still officiated, with the celebrations for the virgin held on the last Sunday of May. The church is characterized by a masonry facade, built behind the original crypt, which reaches up to the height of the land above, with the pediment supporting the cross that protrudes slightly. The façade contains five niches in the lower part with sacred images and one in the upper one with a statue of the Madonna and Child.
- The square interior is carved into the rock. Above the main altar there is an image of the Madonna and on the right wall there is a second altar together with other niches. In the tympanum there is a painted terracotta statuette of the Virgin and Child. It has a single nave in its internal part, which appears to have been remodeled repeatedly over time. In the central and lateral apse there are altars of the Latin rite. On the right wall there is a large apse niche marked by a large platform along the perimeter. On the left wall a door opens which leads, after a short tunnel, into a square cavity. The church houses some wooden, corroded statuettes of ancient local art and is still open to worship. In the same rocky wall in which the church was built there are other caves used as animal shelters.
- Church of San Benedetto alla Civita. The church has suffered several damage caused by natural disasters and road works. The small crypt, however, still retains the remains of frescoes dating back to the 12th-13th century.
- 8 Church of San Falcione (in the area in front of the city, in the esplanade of the Murgia.). Its construction is traced back to the 9th century. From an architectural point of view, the different spaces have been excavated in the limestone. In particular, it includes two priests; on a wall, inside the rock layer, the chair has been created. There are also traces of Byzantine frescoes, now in poor condition, depicting some saints (for example two portraying St. Nicholas have been identified) and the presentation of Jesus in the Temple. The Byzantine influence is also testified by a Greek inscription present in an internal niche, which is hardly visible today, which reads "This Child created heaven and earth".
- Church of San Giacomo (behind the ancient Porta Empia). The church, from which the entire district takes its name, is now completely destroyed. It was rectangular in plan with a slightly arched ceiling. Three niches adorned the side and back walls. There were few traces of a carved cross on the ceiling. The terminal area of the left wall contained a niche with a cistern below. Over time, new structures have been created such as a built-in kitchen and a stable with a manger that have transformed the architectural elements of the ancient place of worship.
- 9 Church of San Michele di Serra Sant'Angelo (Cave of the Bats). The church is a cavity in the right wall of the Gravina di Matera, used, since the Middle Palaeolithic, as a human shelter and transformed, therefore, into a place of worship in the Middle Ages.
- Church of San Nicola in Chiancalata. The church, dedicated to San Nicola di Mira, has a longitudinal layout. The hall and the presbytery are divided by a Byzantine element, that is, the iconostasis consisting of a central arch.
- 10 Church of Sant'Agnese (church of Santa Maria dell'Arco). The entrance consists of a parabolic arch that leads into a small square cell.
- Church of Sant'Antonio Abate. The church, dedicated to Sant'Antonio abate, has a longitudinal layout. The entrance, announced by a small pronaos, is characterized by a raised frame. The interior has a rectangular plan and is divided into three naves divided by four pillars. The central nave offers tall and modeled niches on the pillars; the same happens for the left aisle. This is divided into three sectors: the first has a small window contained in a frame; the second has three minor niches side by side; the third is today in ruins due to the opening of a secondary entrance.
- The church has a well-modeled ceiling. The right aisle and the central one have a curtained ceiling; that of the left aisle, on the other hand, is more arched. In the past, the niches of the central nave contained various murals; today, however, we find only a few images inside them. The most important is that of the Holy Monk Antonio Abate, who gets movement from the flowing white beard. In another niche there is the Baroque image of a St. Sebastian, of no expression. On the back wall of the left aisle there is a panel dedicated to the praying Madonna who assists the work in the fields.
- Crypt of the Grottini. The crypt probably reuses the spaces of an ancient cave dating back to the Metal Age. It has an equilateral cross layout, whose arms close in well-modeled caps. The intersection of the arms is dominated by a slightly ogival dome.
- 11 Crypt of the Old Capuchin (Crypt of the Old Abundance), Via Cappuccini.
- 12 Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Tre Porte. The church shows itself with the original entrance completely collapsed. The interior has a pseudo-rectangular plan rather articulated in three naves arranged transversely with respect to the entrance. Originally the church rested on four massive pillars that marked the underground space giving rise to a series of arches. Of these pillars, the two front ones collapsed. The walls of the two surviving naves are decorated with numerous engraved crosses and with some rare niches aligned with the aisles. Opposite to them there are three apse cavities. A chapel, with a central niche in the bottom of which a Latin cross is engraved, is obtained in the left part at the beginning of the left aisle. The rupestrian church was one of the most precious underground monuments due to the presence of frescoes of considerable artistic and historical value enclosing an era between the twelfth and seventeenth centuries.
- 13 Crypt of San Nicola all'Annunziata. The church, completely excavated in the rock, is divided into two intercommunicating naves through three arches. It has Byzantine structural elements, such as, for example, the iconostasis, or a dividing wall between the choir and the hall. The pictorial apparatus of the right wall has been almost completely lost due to the washout of the water following the collapse of part of the ceiling.
- 14 Church of the Madonna del Giglio, ☎ 39 0835 336166. The altar is placed inside a niche at the back of the hall. At the entrance there is an arch with a lowered sixth and a deep frame, on which an equilateral cross is sculpted. The church has a rectangular plan with a quay that runs along the entire perimeter. Of the frescoes, now almost entirely vanished, only remains: the floral festoon, which runs along the edge of the ceiling; an enthroned Madonna with Child on her lap venerated by two archangels in the apse lunette and a series of stylized red lilies.
Along the Gravina stream
- 15 Church of San Lupo al Guirro (Crucifix at Guirro) (near the Guirro stream and the Gravina di Picciano).
- 16 Crypt of the Original Sin (for its cycle of frescoes it is called the "Sistine Chapel of the rock"). The origin of the church is located in the period between the eighth and ninth centuries: probably the monastery belonged to the Benedictine order, as evidenced by some elements that characterize the cycle of frescoes inside. Subsequently abandoned, it was found on 1 May 1963 and subjected to restoration work.
- Given the long period of abandonment it is difficult to define the original structure: it appears as a single room on the left and back walls of which a cycle of frescoes is painted, the work of a single artist, called Painter of Flowers of Matera, perhaps a Benedictine . The painting is clearly Lombard style, with few references to Byzantine art, due to the arrival in Italy in the period of oriental popes, and to Roman painting, such as the simple drawing line, rich clothes and expressive faces.
- 17 Crypt of Christ (Along the provincial road to Gravina di Puglia, after 8.300 km, turn left onto the road that leads to the rural village of La Martella. Routes about km. 2 turns left again along the cart track that leads to the Masseria del Cristo). This typical rural construction is divided into numerous rooms, many of which were destroyed by a recent massive collapse and looks like an authentic rural fortress. The building takes its name from a bas-relief and is divided into three sectors: the hall, the presbytery and a lateral service area. A low wall separates the presbytery from the rest of the hall. The altar is still the original one.
Saracen village
It is a rupestrian complex in the South-Southeast direction from Matera.
- 18 Church of San Nicola al Saraceno. The recently discovered church is difficult to access. It is, in fact, dug on a steep bank of the Gravina di Matera. The interior is divided into two rooms, the hall and the presbytery defined by the presence of the iconostasis consisting of a central arch and two side windows, also arched.
- 19 Rock Church of San Luca alla Selva. The entrance to the church is hidden by a series of shrubs but is perfectly accessible from the path. The crypt, of irregular shape, is completely carved out of the rock. On the left there is a cubicle with a baptismal font. On the right a chapel where traces of frescoes are still visible. The altar is located at the bottom, and can be reached through rooms with benches carved into the rock. On the altar there is a cross in bas-relief, while above the altar there is a small dome-shaped excavation.
- Crypt of Vitisciulo.
What to do
- 1 View from the Murgia Materana Park (Descending from the belvedere parking lot of the Murgia Materana Park, or going up the paths of the Gravina after crossing the bridge.). From this point you can enjoy a frontal view of the city but above all of the Sassi of Matera, and you get a wonderful overview. Viewing at sunset is highly recommended when the twilight lights replace those of the city that looks like a nativity scene.
Guided tours
- Tourist visit.
euro 10 per person, (under 18: € 6 under 6: free). Mon-Sun 10:30 am. Low difficulty excursion of 1h 15min. We visit: San Falcione, Madonna delle Tre Porte, the Gravina di Matera, caves and cisterns - Belvedere trail. euro 15 per person (under 18: € 7 under 6: free). Mon-Sun 17:00. Medium difficulty excursion of 2h 15min. We visit: San Falcione, San Vito, Madonna delle Tre Porte
- Path of the crosses. euro 15 per person (under 18: € 7 under 6: free). Medium difficulty excursion of 2h 15min. Visit Madonna delle Croci. Minimum number of participants: 4.
- Great trekking. euro 25 per person (under 18: € 13 under 6: free). Medium difficulty excursion lasting 4 hours. We visit: Neolithic village, San Falcione, San Vito, Madonna delle Tre Porte, Madonna delle Croci.
- Neolithic village of Murgia Timone. euro 8 per person (under 18: € 5 under 6: free). One hour visit to the Neolithic village.
- Rock gardens. € 20 per person. 2-hour excursion with a visit to the churches of Madonna dei Derelitti and Madonna di Monteverde with explanation of the botanical species.
- Big ring on the stones. 6-hour excursion along the main points of interest: Neolithic village, San Falcione, Sant'Agnese, Madonna delle Tre Porte, Madonna delle Croci, Madonna di Monteverde, Madonna degli Angeli, Madonna dei derelitti, Madonna delle Vergini, Village of the three bridges.
- Murgia bike park. € 20 per person. Bike tour of the park with a 3 km route and a duration of 2 hours.
euro 10 per person, (under 18: € 6 under 6: free). Shopping
Where to eat
Typical agri-food products are, the bread of Matera IGP, the Matera DOC wines, and the oil of the park of the rock churches, protected by the voluntary product certification.
The best place to eat is without a doubt Matera.
Where stay
The best place to stay is without a doubt Matera.
Safety
How to keep in touch
Around
Other projects
Wikipedia contains an entry concerning Park of the Murgia Materana
Commons contains images or other files on Park of the Murgia Materana
