Matera in 2 days, on foot

This 2-day self-guided walking plan for Matera covers 15 narrated sights in an easy day-by-day order. Each day is split into a morning and an afternoon loop, and every stop has a two to three minute audio story in the Gingerguide app.

You set the pace: this is a suggested order, not a schedule. Walk it in 2 days, or stretch it out. Reorder freely; Matera rewards a detour.

Day 1

Morning

1. Sassi di Matera: One of the oldest continuously inhabited human settlements on earth, a UNESCO World Heritage city of cave dwellings carved into two dramatic ravines, inhabited since the Palaeolithic era and designated European Capital of Culture in 2019.
2. Sasso Caveoso: The lower and more ancient of Matera's two cave districts, with the most dramatic ravine views, the oldest rock churches with Byzantine frescoes, and the raw, unrestored character of the ancient sassi settlement.
3. Sasso Barisano: The upper and more restored cave district of Matera, where the ancient cave houses have been transformed into boutique hotels, cave restaurants, and atmospheric bars, offering the extraordinary experience of sleeping and dining inside 9,000-year-old stone.
4. Matera Cathedral: A magnificent 13th-century Romanesque cathedral on the ridge between the two Sassi, with a celebrated carved Lion doorway, a Byzantine-icon Madonna, and panoramic views over the entire cave city.

Afternoon

1. Palombaro Lungo: An extraordinary underground cistern of around 5 million litres capacity built between the 16th and 18th centuries beneath Piazza Vittorio Veneto, a vast cave space that was the main water supply for the city of Matera for over three centuries.
2. Rock Churches of Matera: Over 150 rock-cut Byzantine churches scattered through the Sassi and surrounding countryside, many still containing medieval frescoes, among the finest examples of Byzantine religious art in southern Italy.
3. Casa Noha: A restored cave house managed by FAI (the Italian National Trust) that houses an immersive multimedia introduction to the history of Matera, the essential first stop for understanding the Sassi before exploring them.
4. MUSMA: Museum of Contemporary Sculpture: Italy's only museum of contemporary sculpture housed within a historic cave dwelling, the Palazzo Pomarici, where modern and contemporary sculptures are displayed in the extraordinary setting of ancient carved rooms and cisterns.

Day 2

Morning

1. Gravina di Matera Gorge: The dramatic 150-metre-deep limestone gorge carved by the Gravina river below the Sassi, with cave dwellings on both sides and a suspension footbridge connecting the two banks, the defining geological feature of Matera.
2. James Bond's Matera: No Time to Die: Matera's Sassi provided the unforgettable backdrop for the opening car chase in the James Bond film 'No Time to Die' (2021), putting this ancient cave city on the global cinema map and generating millions in tourism.
3. Murgia Materana Archaeological Park: A wild karst plateau opposite Matera across the Gravina gorge, where prehistoric villages, rock churches, cave dwellings, and untouched Mediterranean scrubland shelter wolves, golden eagles, and peregrine falcons.
4. Pane di Matera IGP: An EU IGP-protected traditional bread made from durum wheat semolina, mother yeast, and baked in traditional wood-fired ovens, with a distinctive crisp golden crust and dense, nutty crumb that keeps fresh for over a week.

Afternoon

1. From 'National Shame' to UNESCO Heritage: The extraordinary reversal of Matera's modern history, from Carlo Levi's 'Christ Stopped at Eboli', through the forced evacuation of the 1950s called a 'national shame', to UNESCO World Heritage status in 1993 and European Capital of Culture 2019.
2. Piazza Vittorio Veneto: The main square of the upper city of Matera, where a glass floor reveals the Palombaro Lungo cistern below, and where the evening passeggiata takes place with the panoramic backdrop of the Sassi descending into the ravines.
3. Belvedere dei Sassi: Main Viewpoint: The classic panoramic viewpoint on the ridge between the two Sassi, where the full sweep of the cave city, Sasso Barisano to the left, Sasso Caveoso to the right, the Gravina gorge below, can be photographed in a single frame.

Full Matera guide and all stops →