Travel Italy

Matera has plenty of B&Bs, condominiums and caves suitable for 1-3 nights stay. Le Grotte della Civita, which comprises 18 cave-cum-bedrooms is luxuriously rustic and ripe for romance. For those in search of a spa as well, Locanda di San Martino Hotel e Thermae Romanae’s Roman baths may tick the box, while Palazzo Gattini provides spirituality with a view.

Trullo Incanto D’Itria is a complex of traditional trulli with a stunning pool and gardens. Newly renovated, it offers the very best of outdoor living for larger groups. The extensive gardens are beautifully landscaped and filled with ancient olive trees and the pool area is particularly impressive.

It’s hardly surprising that Mel Gibson chose to film his The Passion of the Christ in 2003. The sassi caves are instantly recognisable as is the church of San Nicola dei Greci which selected as the location for the Last Supper.

Also look out for the soon to be released Ben Hur spectacular starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Huston where Metera features as the backdrop.

Wonder Woman, released in 2017, was also shot in Matera and stars Gal Gadot, David Thewlis, and Robin Wright.

Matera is divided into the civita – the town centre – and surrounding sassi cliffs. It’s a walk of sometime steep ups and downs and highlights include the sensational views especially from Parco della Murgia Materana, the national park.

The thirteenth century Cathedral of Santa Maria della Bruna made from tufa stone, stands tall overlooking the Sassi from the hightest point on Civita hill. Inside it is rich in Baroque style, with stucco, paintings, gilded frames and sculptures.

Yet not so long ago, living conditions were so bad that the streets of the two sassi (meaning “stones”) districts of Barisano and Caveoso, became inadvertent sewers. Homes were badly ventilated often with 90 per cent humidity and on top of that farmers lived with their animals (horses, sheep) in small spaces. None of this was helped by overpopulation, disease and poverty.

There’s a tiny corner in Southern Italy that has only recently come out of the shadows. Much maligned as recently as 50 years ago as “The shame of Italy”, Matera, the ancient revamped capital of Basilicata, with its magnificent rocky cavernous landscape and its troglodyte dwellings, has been awarded European Capital of Culture for 2019 and now has been featured in the new Bond epic No Time to Die.