Things to do in Matera

Matera, in the southern region of Basilicata, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited towns in the world. Its two cave districts, Sasso Barisano and Sasso Caveoso, are a honeycomb of homes, churches and cisterns dug into the soft limestone above the Gravina gorge.

Once a symbol of poverty, the Sassi were emptied in the 1950s and have since been restored with hotels, restaurants and small museums. A guided walk is the best way to understand the water systems, the frescoed rock churches and how families lived alongside their animals inside the caves.