Sassi of Matera - Sassi di Matera

Sassi of Matera is a district of the city of Matera.

To know

Geographical notes

The Sassi di Matera are an urban settlement resulting from the various forms of civilization and anthropization that have occurred over time. Together with the cisterns and the water collection systems, they are the peculiar feature of the city. These are ancient aggregates of houses dug into the limestone, close to a deep ravine, the "Gravina".

Background

From the prehistoric ones of the entrenched villages of the Neolithic period, to the habitat of the oriental rock civilization (IX-XI century), which constitutes the urban substratum of the Sassi, with its walkways, canalizations, cisterns; from the western Norman-Swabian civitas (11th-13th century), with its fortifications, to the subsequent Renaissance expansions (15th-16th century) and Baroque urban arrangements (17th-18th century); and finally from the hygienic-social degradation of the nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century to the displacement ordered by national law in the fifties, the city has undergone a long decline and an incredible rebirth.

Carlo Levi, sent to confinement in Lucania by the fascist regime, he visited the Sassi when they were at the height of a demographic collapse that had begun. He describes the city thus in the famous novel Christ stopped in Eboli:

«I arrived in Matera around eleven in the morning. I had read in the guide that it is a picturesque city, which deserves to be visited, that there is a museum of ancient art and curious troglodyte dwellings [ie dug into the rock]. A little further away from the station, I came to a street, which on one side was lined with old houses, and on the other skirted a precipice. In that precipice is Matera. The shape of that ravine was strange; like that of two half funnels placed side by side, separated by a small spur and gathered at the bottom in a common apex, where you could see, from up there, a white church, Santa Maria de Idris, which seemed to be stuck in the earth. These inverted cones, these funnels, are called Sassi. They have the shape with which, at school, we imagined Dante's hell, in that narrow space between the facades and the slope the streets pass, and they are both floors for those who come out of the houses above and roofs for those below. Looking up, I finally saw the whole of Matera appear like an oblique wall. It is truly a beautiful, picturesque and impressive city. "

Levi's work to raise awareness was an important step in solving the problem of the Sassi.In 1950, the president of the council Alcide De Gasperi, following a visit to Basilicata in which he realized the seriousness of the living conditions of the place, commissioned the Lucan deputy Emilio Colombo to study a bill for the rehabilitation and displacement of the Sassi di Matera. Colombo's proposal was delivered to De Gasperi in 1951, presented in parliament as a bill and finally approved unanimously on May 17, 1952 as the "Special Law for the rehabilitation of the Sassi".

The displacement therefore began in 1952. This operation was made necessary by the unsustainable situation in which the population found itself, afflicted for example by infant mortality four times higher than the national average. The displacement of the Sassi resulted in a significant urban development for the city of Matera, including a master plan. In 1993 the Sassi di Matera became the first Unesco site in southern Italy, followed by a massive recovery of the houses and an increase in tourist flows.

How to orient yourself

The Sassi are arranged around and on the bottom of two valley furrows, shaped by the passage of water, channeled into the so-called "grabiglioni" on the bottom of the same.

Neighborhoods

The 40.667716.60991 Sasso Barisano, located along the road that exiting the city continued towards Bari, turned north-west, is the richest in sculpted portals and friezes that hide its underground heart. The 40.662716.61152 Sasso Caveoso, which instead looks south, towards Montescaglioso, known in the Middle Ages as Mons Caveosus (from which the name probably derives), it is arranged just like the cavea of ​​a theater, with the cave-houses that descend in steps. Within the two Sassi there are also various districts, districts and districts with picturesque names: u lammòrd, u parav's, u p'ndàf'c, u mòlv, u chianèdd, u casalnàv. To divide the two valleys rises the steep cliff of the 40.666516.61283 Civita, which houses the beautiful Romanesque Cathedral. At the foot of the Civita and at the upper edge of the Sassi it lies plan, the post-medieval historical center, beyond which contemporary Matera extends.

How to get

The new city is accessed through the many streets, passages and accesses often equipped with stairs or steep descents.

How to get around

The presence of stairs and alleys makes it necessary to move on foot. The area is almost completely pedestrianized and access to cars is only with resident passes or via hotel.

What see

Sasso Barisano

• 40.66616516.6079111 Church of San Martino dei Lombardi. The church, now walled up, is dedicated to San Martino and is a typical example of a church that has been desecrated and has become a home. The plant, in fact, has undergone several transformations due to the various intended uses to which it has been subjected. Only the entrance still retains significant traces of the place of worship.  
• 40.66763116.6084892 Church of San Rocco. The church of San Rocco is annexed to the monastery of the Reformed Fathers. The numerous alterations over the centuries have completely altered the structure, including the facade.  

• 40.670216.613 Convent of Sant'Agostino, Via D'Addozio. This convent is an Italian national monument, located in the Sasso Barisano and built in 1593, together with the church of the same name, on the ancient rock crypt of San Giuliano dating back to the 12th century (so far described as the crypt of San Guglielmo due to a historical error) .  
• 40.66972416.6102744 Church of the Madonna delle Grazie. The entrance consists of a bell gable. It includes a terracotta bas-relief representing the Madonna and Child. The interior has only some alterations. Among these there is an imposing Baroque altar placed near the original iconostasis. Behind the altar we find a rock wall with several openings which lead to the sacristy; once there was the presbytery. In the ceiling there are two carved domes and visible apse arches. On the right wall there is a Crucifixion, now ruined, under which there is a faded fresco. The figure of Christ is accompanied by two angels and at the foot of it there are: the Mother and John. On another wall is represented St. Francis of Assisi receiving the stigmata. In the ceiling area behind the altar there are some coffered panels with ornamental motifs. The corresponding wall, on the other hand, shows a painting of S. Lucia.  

• 40.66879116.6093065 Church of San Pietro Barisano (Church of San Pietro in Verenibus), Via S. Pietro Barisano, ☎ 39 327 9803776, 39 345 9391659, @[email protected]. Combined tickets for: S. Lucia alle Malve, Madonna de Idris / S. Giovanni in Monterrone, S. Pietro Barisano 7 € three sites, 6 € two sites, 3.50 € one site. Reductions are foreseen. (Sep 2020). Mon-Sun from 21 Mar to 2 Nov 10: 00-19: 00, from 3 Nov to 20 Mar 10: 00-16: 00. It is the largest rock church in the city and is dated to the 12th-13th century with subsequent extensions. In the eighteenth century it was given its present form and the facade was created. There are several side altars and a crypt where the drainage of corpses and storage were practiced. Several frescoes are also visible.  
• 40.6684416.6092346 Quarry house, Via S. Pietro Barisano, 47, ☎ 39 0835 336733, @[email protected]. Mon-Sun 10: 00-13: 00 and 15: 00-18: 00. This place is a cultural container with an auditorium and exhibition spaces carved into the rock in ancient environments. 
• 40.668816.61067 Palazzo del Casale (Casale complex), via del Casale. Seat of the Matera Basilicata 2019 Foundation.  
• 40.66820616.6109428 Torre Metellana, Via S. Nicola del sole (located in the Sasso Barisano). It was part of the walls to defend the "Civita". 
• 40.66971816.6092479 Church of Santa Cesarea, vico Santa Cesarea 11-12. The underground chapel is now a house with walled entrances.  
• 40.66676916.60847110 Palazzetto di Recinto Fiorentini (Acito Palace), enclosure The Florentines.  

• 40.66757616.60992711 Museum-Laboratory of Peasant Civilization, Via San Giovanni Vecchio, 60, ☎ 39 0835344057, 39 3286113454, 39 3271470440. Mon-Sun 9: 00-13: 00 and 16: 00-19: 00. It is an ethno-anthropological museum consisting of a series of houses, connected for exhibition needs. The first room reproduces a "loft lamione", a single room built (16th century) which extends the volume of a pre-existing cave (cave house): it allowed the family to separate from the animals during the night. The preparation of the exhibition rooms was preceded by years of targeted collection of everyday objects and tools of various professions that were the basis of the economic and social life of the city of the Sassi.  
• 40.66754916.61029812 Matera in miniature, Via Fiorentini, 82, ☎ 39 0835 334031. Mon-Sun 8: 30-20: 30. Miniature reproduction of the stones of Matera. 
• 40.66750816.61006913 Ancient Cave House, Via Fiorentini, 251, ☎ 39 0835 334031, 39 3391371413, 39 3289272618, @[email protected]. Full 2 ​​€, reduced 1 € (Sep 2020). Mon-Sun 9:00 - 18:00. 
• 40.66681716.60958614 Immersive Museum of the Bruna (MIB), Via di Fiorentini 8, ☎ 39 0835 405759, @[email protected]. Internal € 6, groups € 5 (Sep 2020). Mon – Fri 16: 00-20: 00, Sat-Sun and holidays 10: 00-13: 00 and 15: 00-20: 00. Tours depart every 30 minutes.. 

• 40.6683716.6113115 Church of the Madonna della Virtù and San Nicola dei Greci, Via Madonna delle Virtù, ☎ 39 377 4448885. Full € 5, reduced € 3.50 (September 2020). October: 10: 00-13: 30 and 15: 00-18: 00, from November to March: 10: 00-13: 30 (afternoon opening by reservation for groups of at least ten people), from April to May: 10: 00-13: 30 and 15: 00-18: 00, from June to September: 10: 00-20: 00. These are two rock churches dating back to the year 1000, articulated on several levels with frescoed walls. The complex also has spaces for housing, a monastery with cisterns and mangers.  
• 40.66845616.61096116 The House of Ortega (Museum of Applied Arts), Via San Nicola del Sole Sasso Barisano, ☎ 393669357768. Due to the Coronavirus emergency and the consequent economic losses, the MUSMA will remain closed until the resources necessary for the safety of the site are found. The museum intends to testify the presence in Matera of the Spanish artist Josè Ortega by exhibiting some of his works. 

Civita

• 40.66602816.61011117 Ridola Palace, Via Duomo (in front of the tower which became Palazzo Vizziello). Noble building now owned by the Municipality of Matera.  
• 40.66714516.61110918 Diocesan Museum of Matera (MATA), Via Riscatto, 12, ☎ 393662230517. Full € 5, reduced € 3 (Sep 2020). Temporarily not open to visitors. 

• 40.666816.611319 Matera Cathedral (Cathedral of the Madonna della Bruna and Sant'Eustachio), Piazza Duomo, ☎ 390835332908. € 1 (Aug 2020). Mon-Fri 8:30 - 14:00 and 17:00 - 19:00, Sat 8:30 - 19:00, Sun 9:00 - 19:00. Building in Apulian Romanesque style, it was built in the thirteenth century on the highest spur of the Civita that divides the two Sassi, on the area of ​​the ancient Benedictine monastery of Sant'Eustachio, one of the two patron saints of the city. Outside, the rose window with sixteen rays and the bell tower 52 meters high are worthy of note; inside, worthy of note is a Byzantine fresco of the Madonna della Bruna, a sixteenth-century nativity scene by the sculptor Altobello Persio and a fresco depicting the Last Judgment.  
• 40.66647916.6111320 Palazzo Gattini, Piazza Duomo, 13, ☎ 390835334358. It is an eighteenth-century mansion, where one of the emerging families of the Matera nobility resided: the Gattini counts. The building is now a luxury hotel.  

• 40.66645816.61121221 Malvinni-Malvezzi Palace, Piazza Duomo, 14. It takes its name from the family that lived there from the 15th century to the 1960s. It is currently owned by the provincial administration of Matera.  
• 40.66664516.61229722 Venusio Palace, via S. Potito. Noble building used as a hotel.  
• 40.66652716.61232523 Church of San Potito (Santu Pietruddo (San Pietrino)). The church has been transformed into a private house, losing the architectural and pictorial signs of the ancient place of worship.  
• 40.66632616.61213324 Casa Noha, Cavone enclosure, 9, ☎ 39 0835 335452, @[email protected]. 6 € (Sep 2020). Thu-Mon 10: 00-19: 00. This ancient dwelling is a protected asset of the Fondo Ambiente Italiano and tells the story of Matera through filmed sequences and multimedia itineraries. Visit time 50 min. 

• 40.66610816.61221125 Museum of Contemporary Sculpture (MUSMA), Via San Giacomo (At Palazzo Pomarici). Full € 7, reduced € 4. from 1 October to 31 March 10: 00-18: 00, from 1 April to 30 September 10: 00-20: 00 Due to the Coronavirus emergency and the consequent economic losses, the MUSMA will remain closed until the resources necessary for the safety of the site are found. This museum houses about 270 works by 200 different artists, including Kengiro Azuma, Duilio Cambellotti, Pietro Consagra, Pericle Fazzini, Luigi Guerricchio, Emilio Isgrò, Giacomo Manzù, José Ortega and Arnaldo Pomodoro.  
• 40.66538616.61048226 Bernardini Palace (Palazzo Ferraù or Giudicepietro), Seat Arch, 9, ☎ 393473204507. It is a historic building overlooking the Sasso Caveoso of Matera. Today it is used as a b & b and reception room.  

Sasso Caveoso

• 40.664116.612127 Church of Santa Maria di Idris (Santa Maria de Idris or Madonna de Idris) (It is located in the upper part of Monterrone, a large limestone cliff that rises in the middle of the Sasso Caveoso; it can be reached via a flight of stairs near the rock church of Santa Lucia alle Malve). Combined tickets for: S. Lucia alle Malve, Madonna de Idris / S. Giovanni in Monterrone, S. Pietro Barisano 7 € three sites, 6 € two sites, 3.50 € one site. Reductions are foreseen. (Sep 2020). Mon-Sun from 21 Mar to 2 Nov 10: 00-19: 00, from 3 Nov to 20 Mar 10: 00-16: 00. The name Idris derives from the Greek Odigitria, the one who shows the way, or from the water that flowed from that rock. The rock church has a masonry forepart with a small bell gable on the side; the interior, due to the continuous alterations undergone over the centuries, has nothing of the original structure. It consists of an irregular nave with frescoes, placed on the back-façade wall of the crypt, most of which detached for restoration, having deteriorated due to humidity and preserved at the Superintendence of Historical and Artistic Heritage of Matera. On the altar there is a Madonna with Child dating back to the seventeenth century painted in tempera, on the right Sant'Eustachio, patron saint of the city and other frescoes always dating back to the seventeenth century and again a crude crucifixion with the silhouette of the city of Matera in the background. The church of Santa Maria de Idris is connected to the rock crypt of San Giovanni in Monterrone through a tunnel, and in this crypt there are numerous and valuable frescoes that can be dated over a period of time ranging from the twelfth to the seventeenth century.

In the access passage there is the fresco depicting San Giovanni Battista; in a lunette above an altar the fresco dating back to the 12th century of Christ Pantocrator blessing in the Latin style, who with his left hand holds an open Gospel in which a Greek text is inscribed. This fresco represents the influence of the Byzantine iconographic culture. Further on, on the shoulder of a cut-off arch, there is an unknown monk (San Francesco or San Leonardo?) With a habit and hood. Opposite St. Nicholas (14th century) in bishop's robes, who blesses with his right hand and holds the Gospel with his left. Leaving the corridor, one enters a larger hall, constituting the actual nave of the church of San Giovanni in Monterrone, which ends in an elevated presbytery; on the opposite wall there is a fresco depicting the head of St. Andrew and fragments of a Madonna with Child in the iconographic typology of the Glykophilousa, also datable towards the end of the 12th century, and two unknown saints. On the left wall, placed in decorated niches, two other saints, one of which identified in San Pietro on the basis of the lines of the face, beard and hair, even without the keys, and on the side San Giacomo, dating back to the XIII century.  

• 40.664416.612628 Church of Saints Peter and Paul (Church of San Pietro Caveoso), Piazza S. Pietro Caveoso, 1, ☎ 390835311510. Built in 1218, it is one of the most characteristic points of the city. In the seventeenth century the entire structure underwent numerous changes and there was the addition of the bell tower, all in Baroque style. Inside there are numerous eighteenth-century paintings and frescoes of saints. The numerous chapels are stuccoed and feature frescoes and wooden polyptychs.  
• 40.66406516.6111529 Cisterna House, Ponte S. Pietro Caveoso, 39, ☎ 393481743135. Typical house of the Sassi of Matera with underground cistern. Typical furnishings of the time. 
• 40.66338816.61134530 Water collection museum, Via Purgatorio Vecchio, 12, ☎ 39 3282099219. It is not allowed to take photos and videos. 

• 40.6637716.61226731 Casagrotta, Vico Solitario, 11, ☎ 39 0835 310118, 39 348 2857463, @[email protected]. € 3 (Aug 2020). Mon-Sun 9: 30-20: 00. With all the furniture and objects that were used in the past still inside. The explanation is done by using your smartphone to listen to the free IZI Travel audio guide via QR code. It is recommended that you bring headphones as listening to other users hands-free makes it difficult to understand the explanations.  

• 40.66324816.61244232 Church of Santa Lucia alle Malve (annexed to a Benedictine female monastery dating back to the 11th century). Combined tickets for: S. Lucia alle Malve, Madonna de Idris / S. Giovanni in Monterrone, S. Pietro Barisano 7 € three sites, 6 € two sites, 3.50 € one site. Reductions are foreseen. (Sep 2020). Mon-Sun from 21 Mar to 2 Nov 10: 00-19: 00, from 3 Nov to 20 Mar 10: 00-16: 00. Initially the church was dedicated to Sant'Agata, to be later dedicated to Santa Lucia between 1217 and 1267. After the transfer in 1525 of the nuns first to the monastery of Santa Lucia alla Civita and then to Santa Lucia al Piano, the church was used as a home.

Three sculpted chalices belonging to different eras are positioned on the facade and refer to the martyrdom of Saint Lucia. On the internal walls there are valuable frescoes, many of which were found during the restoration in 1977 and date back to the 12th century. In particular, the Archangel Gabriel trampling on a dragon, a sign of evil and infidels, dated 1250, that of the Madonna del Latte, of 1270, S. Nicola, San Benedetto, Giovanni Battista, Santa Scolastica and many others stand out. Above the church there is a necropolis with rock tombs.  

• 40.662516.611133 Church of Santa Maria de Armenis. The church, of which there is documentary notion as early as 1094, is part of an ancient Benedictine monastery and seems to have been named after the settlement of Armenian communities in Matera. The facade, in late Romanesque style, is surmounted by some blind arches while on the entrance door there is a round arch where the epigraph Santa Maria de Armenis is engraved.

The interior consists of three apsed naves with arches and walls that retain traces of ancient frescoes, trapezoidal capital columns, and a courtyard which is accessed by a decorated portal overlooking the rooms of the ancient monastery. From 1660 to 1774 it housed the brotherhood of San Francesco da Paola and was subsequently merged with the Seminary of Palazzo Lanfranchi.  

• 40.66172316.61285434 Convicinio di Sant'Antonio (It is located next to the Gravina stream, in the Casalnuovo district at number 364). It is traced back to a period between the 11th and 13th centuries, probably in the center of a large monastery, but over the centuries its use has been varied in favor of more secular purposes, including that of cellars in the 18th century (as suggested by the wine stems placed in the altars). It consists of four neighboring rock churches, which overlook a single atrium or courtyard.  
• 40.66161516.61172835 Matera Olive Oil Museum (MOOM), Vico I Casalnuovo, 3, ☎ 39 380 701 5042. Sun 10: 00-13: 00 and 16: 00-18: 00. The museum was built in an ancient oil mill that dates back to the 15th-16th centuries, in which the different stages of oil processing are exhibited. 
• 40.66211716.61124236 Church of San Nicola de Cupa. It is not possible to define the date of foundation of the Church. From written sources it is clear that, on the occasion of the pastoral visit of Msgr. Saraceno (1543-1544), the structure was in good condition. Very little remains of the original appearance due to the numerous transformations over time.  
• 40.66299116.61211537 Close to Pozzo (Park of the History of Man - Peasant Civilization), Malve district, ☎ 39 3465329829, @[email protected]. Full admission: € 5; Reduced admission: € 3. Every day 9-20. Il Vicinato a Pozzo is an immersive multimedia museum located in the Malve district adjacent to the Sasso Caveoso. It is part of the Parco della Civiltà Contadina, in turn included in the larger project of the Park of the History of Man which will see the creation of three other itineraries in the near future: "Park of Prehistory", "Park of Rock Civilization" and " City of Stars ".

Inaugurated in September 2019, the immersive museum of the Vicinato a Pozzo was built within a housing system typical of the Rioni Sassi, the neighborhood, composed of groupings of cave houses overlooking a common area, the courtyard, inside the which is the shared tank. In the peasant civilization of the past, the neighborhood was the place where interpersonal relationships and behaviors between its inhabitants were established and consolidated. These elements were dealt with and explored in the path of the Neighborhood in Pozzo with the help of period films and testimonies of personalities who observed, studied and detected the dynamics, values ​​and dignity of that context.

The experiential and emotional journey begins outside, in the courtyard, where three phrases are placed that report evocative definitions given to the city of Matera and where the sounds and widespread shouting typical of the neighborhood are reproduced. The visit continues inside the various Civics, each dedicated to a different character who has contributed to the knowledge (not only nationally) and to the solution of the problem of life in the Sassi. Among the characters are Carlo Levi and Adriano Olivetti, a fundamental figure for the construction of Borgo La Martella where the first inhabitants from the Sassi lived, but also some very important members who made up that work team, led by Olivetti himself, such as the psychologist Lidia De Rita and the sociologist Friedrich Friedmann. The immersive path of the Neighborhood ends with a unique experience: living the suggestions of a typical night in the Sassi inside a cave-house. 

What to do

Panoramic points

• 40.66323216.6102651 Panoramic point (Belvedere Piazzetta Pascoli), Piazzetta Pascoli. This spot is often quite crowded. 
• 40.66679916.6108122 View from Piazza Duomo, Piazza Duomo. view of the Sassi from the view of Piazza Duomo. 
• 40.66626516.6136393 Panoramic point of Via Madonna delle Virtù, Via Madonna delle Virtù. From this view you can see the Gravina and nearby there is the staircase to descend into the valley to reach the Tibetan bridge. 
• 40.6645316.6123474 View from Piazza S. Pietro Caveoso, S. Pietro Caveoso Square (Next to the Church of S. Pietro Caveoso). Partial view of the city and the Gravina. Bello the photographic effect of the arch next to the church. 

Shopping

In the streets and alleys of the Sassi there are several souvenir shops and art shops where you can find original objects.

How to have fun

Where to eat

Moderate prices

• 40.66449716.6118371 Keiv, Piazza San Pietro Caveoso (Sasso Caveoso), ☎ 39 339 3364475, @[email protected]. 
• 40.66246516.6114682 Bread and Tomato, Via Bruno Buozzi 24 Bis, ☎ 39 340 054 1179. 

Average prices

• 40.66582516.612513 Baccanti restaurant, Via Sant'Angelo 58-61, ☎ 39 0835 333704. 
• 40.66413516.6098414 The Shops, Piazza San Pietro Barisano 22, ☎ 39 0835 344072. 
• 40.66229316.6111055 Trattoria del Caveoso, Via B. Buozzi 21, ☎ 39 0835 312374. 
• 40.66223216.6106496 Mail 39, Via Casalnuovo, 39, ☎ 39 0835 1652228. 

Where stay

Average prices

• 40.6677416.610241 Hotel Residence San Giorgio, Via Fiorentini, 289, ☎ 39 0835 334583, fax: 39 0835 339846, @[email protected]. 60/140 €. Check in: 14:00, check-out: 10:00. Splendid suites in the heart of the stones of Matera. 
• 40.66427416.6121042 The Court of the Shepherds, Via Bruno Buozzi. Typical rooms dug into a cave, with a view of the Sassi. Comfort and elegance to sleep in Matera. 

High prices

• 40.66478616.6100593 Antico Convicino Rooms & Suites, Via San Pietro Caveoso, ☎ 39 0835332669, @[email protected]. Check in: 14:00, check-out: 11:00. Antico Convicino Rooms & Suites The 16th century complex, skilfully renovated and furnished, is located in the Sasso Caveoso. 
• 40.66102416.612054 Lamia Guest House. With cave suite. Rooms dug into the tuff and refined location. Parking space nearby. 
• 40.66079316.6130915 Hotel Il Belvedere, Via Casalnuovo, 133, ☎ 390835311702, @[email protected]. €129,00 (2018). Check in: 15:00 - 23:00, check-out: 7:00 - 11:00. Hotel with panoramic terrace on the Sassi and characteristic rooms in the cave. 

How to keep in touch

Other projects

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