Matera
Cave city of nine millennia, Sasso Caveoso and Barisano, rock churches, shame to wonder story.
Photograph · Sassi di Matera
At a glance
Names, makers, dates, and context before the story opens up.
| What it is | District |
|---|---|
| Where | Matera, Basilicata |
| Known for | Cave city of nine millennia, Sasso Caveoso and Barisano, rock churches, shame to wonder story |
The story
The Sassi are Matera’s historic urban districts, part of the wider World Heritage property The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera.
Each statement below is linked to the record or institution that supports it.
Sassi di Matera is a historic urban-area identity, not a single cave, monument or point attraction. It requires distinct treatment of Sasso Barisano, Sasso Caveoso and the Civita ridge, alongside their relationships to the wider city and Murgia landscape.1,2
The Sassi are part of the World Heritage property The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera, inscribed in 1993. They are not a separately inscribed property, and the property also includes the rupestrian-church park.1
The Sassi used linked channels and cisterns to collect rain and spring water for homes and surrounding land. This is historic infrastructure embedded in the settlement, not proof that every subterranean space is accessible or part of the same route.2
UNESCO records the relocation of residents from the Sassi in the 1950s in response to sanitation and renovation needs, followed by return from the 1980s that helped restore use and function. This history should not be reduced to a picturesque before-and-after story.1
Plan your visit
Book a visit
Compared by our editors, across providers.
Booking through these links may earn Italia Magnifica a commission, at no cost to you.
Nearby
Worth folding into the same day.
MateraParco della Murgia MateranaGravina canyon opposite the Sassi, 150 cave churches, Murgia Timone viewpoint, Neolithic villages
MateraMatera CathedralApulian Romanesque on the Civita, Last Judgment fresco, gilded Baroque interior, spur between the Sassi
MateraCrypt of the Original SinSistine Chapel of cave churches, ninth-century frescoes, Flower Painter's hand, gravina cliff setting
