| Matera Italy, the Sassi and the Festa della Madonna Bruna |
| This Italian World Heritage site has just what you need if you're going to be in Italy at the beginning of July. |
This gem of a city in Italy's Basilicata region holds a special celebration on the second of July called the Festa della Madonna Bruna. If you miss your 4th of July fireworks, this may be the place you'll want to visit. Photos and graphics © 2000 by James Martin, licensed to About. |
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Matera Italy and the Sassi
If you arrive at Matera by car, you might think it's just another dusty southern town, but point your car toward the sassi and you'll soon be riding the rim of an extraordinary ravine crammed with houses and caves dug out of bleak hillsides. It is the monochrome dullness of it that rivets your eyes--the scene before you so entirely devoid of color that you might think it's a mirage. Yet the sight of these dwellings is strangely compelling. These are the sassi of Matera.
It wasn't until well into the 20th century that the sassi had sewage connections and electricity. The houses were abandoned in the '50s, when the government, embarrassed by the descriptions of the poverty amongst the people of the sassi found in Carlo Levi's tale of his own exile Christ Stopped in Eboli, relocated the residents to modern housing. The sassi are slowly being repopulated as trendy digs by artistic types.
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Matera
Italy - the Sassi |
Essentials - Getting There
Busses connect Matera to Taranto, Potenza, and Metaponto (Greek and Roman ruins, see below). There are 2 Marozzi busses a day between Rome and Matera.
Trains are available from Bari on the private Ferrovie Appulo-Lucane line.
You can get to the city from Bari or Taranto. If you come from Taranto, you might consider a stopover at Metaponto.
Hotels and History
Check our Matera Italy Links for more.
Other Places to Visit in the Vicinity of Matera
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Aliano
Italy (Basilicata) |
Students of Carlo Levi may wish to visit his home (now a museum) at Aliano. In Christ Stopped at Eboli--Levi's account of his exile to Aliano (which he called Gagliano in the book)--Levi describes a great ravine which the peasants descended each day to tend their tiny plots of rocky farmland. It is impressively steep, as shown in the photo on the right. The museum seems to rely not at all too closely to its own opening hours, so you may have to wait for someone to come and open it, especially in the afternoon.
It's best to go to Aliano by car, but there is an afternoon SITA bus from Matera.
(Compare Prices for Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi.)
Metaponto was founded around the 7th century by Greek colonizers and contains some interesting Greek and Roman ruins. Hannibal had his headquarters there--but Metaponto's most famous resident was Pythagoras. Visit the Parco Archeologico and the Museo Archeologico Nazionale. Each is 3 km from the train station at Metaponto.
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