Matera

Matera is my favorite of all the places I have visited and I have been to Italy five times. It has the most remarkable story of any place, from the Shame of Italy in 1952 to the capital of cultural Europe in 2000 something. If you get a chance look at the book Christ stopped at Eboli. Make sure you get a tour guy who can tell you the story. In an earlier post I listed the name of our tour guide whose grandmother grew up in the Sasso C. We stayed in a cave hotel and Matera is beautiful at night, I would highly recommend a night there.

Jacque_smithiii,

I’ve not visited Matera (yet), but you may be interested in reading our belated Zoe’s trip reports here: Matera, and Caserta and Matera

Wishing you a wonderful trip!

My recommendations:
Stay 2 nights. That way you’ll have a full day and what ever remains of your travel day.
Take a guided tour of the sassi. We had a very knowledgeable, reasonably priced private guide; but she has long since retired. You won’ know what to look for or the significance if what you are seeing without a guide.
When we were there, several years ago, there was a strange ( but very Italian!) situation with parking in the sassi. We had reserved an inn down there; but no matter how we approached, we came to a ztl sign. Finally, we called our hostess. She laughed and told us to ignore the sign. It wasn’t enforced. That being the case, there was plenty of parking, in some lots and along the road. I can’t speak as to whether this is still true.
A couple of recommendations for background:
Read “Christ Stopped at Eboli,” a memoir of Carlo Levi’s exile for anti-fascist activity. Nothing to do with Jesus. It gives a portrait of life before the government forced people out of the rock dwellings in the post-war years. Some of those are now inns. Watch the series, “Imma,” an Italian crime show, set in modern Matera.

We loved staying at the B & B La Corte dei Pastori in Matera. We had our own cave and a terrace looking over the sassi. Our car was parked right below us. The B&B hosts will tell you how to drive in and where to park. We stayed for two nights and wished for three or four, but two is fine for people with less time in Italy. Several wonderful restaurants and you really should make reservations—- we were there in November quite a few years ago and were surprised that we should have done that before we got to Matera. Yes, the sassi are at their best in the early mornings and evenings.