The Sasso Barisano and the Sasso Caveoso are the districts that make up the historic centre of Matera. On this guided tour of the Sassi, we'll see their houses and churches carved into the rock.
Sassi de Matera Guided Tour
We'll meet at the indicated time in Piazza Pascoli, the point where we'll embark on this journey into Matera's past. For this, we'll make an introduction to familiarize ourselves with its history and learn interesting facts about its architecture and anthropological character.
Then we'll head towards the Civita, the highest point of the Sassi of Matera. During the walk, we'll observe the monuments that characterize this part of the city, such as the baroque churches of Purgatorio and San Francesco d'Assisi.
We'll pass through Via delle Beccherie, which was once a shopping street, and reach Piazza Vittorio Veneto, where we'll see the 19th-century fountain built by King Ferdinand II, as well as a fantastic panoramic view of the Sasso Barisano.
In Sasso Barisano we'll visit an underground space, known as a 'hypogeum', and we'll also enter a cave house where we'll discover how the peasants lived until the 1950s, when they were forced to abandon these traditional houses. Afterwards, we'll visit a handicraft workshop full of different pieces made of tuff, a volcaniclastic rock
Afterwards, we'll walk to the Sasso Caveoso, where we'll visit one of its rock-hewn cave churches, which belongs to the Italo-Greek period and contains icons from the period between the 10th and 13th centuries.
Before ending the tour of the Sassi, we'll stop for a tasting of typical products of Matera, which will vary according to the season of the year.
We'll conclude the tour three hours after the start of the tour.
