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Today Matera is the destination of many tourists who, intrigued by the goals that the city has achieved in recent decades, decide to visit it. The city offers many places to visit.
Naturally the Sassi are the main attraction, but the historic center with its palaces and splendid squares overlooked by numerous and valuable medieval churches and the Murgia Materana Park with its numerous rock churches inside are equally interesting.
Booking and guided tours
A large number regularly qualified professional tourist guides are ready to accompany you on many cultural, food and wine tours within the city and its spendid surroundings
>> Guided tours booking
Informations
Restoration
The traditional gastronomy of Matera is simple, bread is often used and we mainly use vegetables, legumes and cereals with a sparing use of meat. Today many restaurateurs have kept the traditional recipes others have introduced innovations in the preparation of the dishes always using the excellent products of the territory.
The level reached by Matera restaurants is undoubtedly among the best in southern Italy thanks also to the high quality of the raw material used, there is something for all tastes and budgets.
Restaurants in Matera - Enogastronomy and Pub - Caffè and lounge bar - Rosticcerie and delivery
The traditional gastronomy of Matera is simple, bread is often used and we mainly use vegetables, legumes and cereals with a sparing use of meat. Today many restaurateurs have kept the traditional recipes others have introduced innovations in the preparation of the dishes always using the excellent products of the territory.
The level reached by Matera restaurants is undoubtedly among the best in southern Italy thanks also to the high quality of the raw material used, there is something for all tastes and budgets.
Restaurants in Matera - Enogastronomy and Pub - Caffè and lounge bar - Rosticcerie and delivery
Experiences to do in Matera
Matera is a small cozy and quiet town with many beautiful things to do.
Even simply strolling in the Sassi or on the Murgia, enjoying the silence, observing the city that awakens at dawn with its noises and changing colors, seeing the sun slowly make its way over the roofs of the houses and between the bell towers of the churches up to flooding the squares and stairways of the Sassi can be a very beautiful and rewarding experience.
In Matera it is possible to participate in cooking experiences to learn how to make fresh pasta or discover the secrets of Matera bread by putting your hands in the dough in our bakery.
It is possible to visit the Sassi, the splendid surrounding area of the Murge or the small neighboring villages by bicycle or on foot accompanied by expert guides in incredible photographic safaris to discover the historical, archaeological and naturalistic heritage that only this incredible natural casket that is Matera with its Murge keeps intact.
. >> Experience how to make Matera bread
. >> Booking for experiences in Matera
Matera is a small cozy and quiet town with many beautiful things to do.
Even simply strolling in the Sassi or on the Murgia, enjoying the silence, observing the city that awakens at dawn with its noises and changing colors, seeing the sun slowly make its way over the roofs of the houses and between the bell towers of the churches up to flooding the squares and stairways of the Sassi can be a very beautiful and rewarding experience.
In Matera it is possible to participate in cooking experiences to learn how to make fresh pasta or discover the secrets of Matera bread by putting your hands in the dough in our bakery.
It is possible to visit the Sassi, the splendid surrounding area of the Murge or the small neighboring villages by bicycle or on foot accompanied by expert guides in incredible photographic safaris to discover the historical, archaeological and naturalistic heritage that only this incredible natural casket that is Matera with its Murge keeps intact.
. >> Experience how to make Matera bread
. >> Booking for experiences in Matera
Artigianato - Made in Matera
Matera still retains the artisan dimension of making. In the historic center of Matera there are artisan shops that produce very original traditional and design objects. Ceramists, papier-mâché, carpenters, upholsterers and creatives have given life to highly sought-after objects, clothes, furnishing or design accessories. Shopping in the historic centre, strolling through small shops, bistros and squares rich in history and traditions is a rewarding and relaxing experience.
Even in the food sector the artisan dimension is very present, dairies, bakeries, salami factories have kept the traditional processing and offer products of the highest quality.>> Made in Matera
Matera still retains the artisan dimension of making. In the historic center of Matera there are artisan shops that produce very original traditional and design objects. Ceramists, papier-mâché, carpenters, upholsterers and creatives have given life to highly sought-after objects, clothes, furnishing or design accessories. Shopping in the historic centre, strolling through small shops, bistros and squares rich in history and traditions is a rewarding and relaxing experience.
Even in the food sector the artisan dimension is very present, dairies, bakeries, salami factories have kept the traditional processing and offer products of the highest quality.>> Made in Matera
Natera is the site of the Polo Museale della Basilicata which has 10 National Museums and various Archaeological Parks scattered throughout the region. The museums and archaeological areas show the occupation of the territory of Lucania from very remote times by both indigenous populations and those coming from the East relating to the first Neolithic migration followed by the Hellenic one.
Archeological National museum Domenico Ridola - Matera
The Domenico Ridola National Archaeological Museum was established in 1911 and is the oldest museum in Basilicata. The museum exhibits collections of naturalistic materials, ethnographic and artistic objects, and above all of precious archaeological finds collected by Ridola himself during the excavations he coordinated in the Matera area concerning Paleolithic and Neolithic frequentations.
Nazional medieval and modern art museum of Basilicata
Also known as the Palazzo Lanfranchi Museum from the seventeenth-century building of the same name that houses it, the museum displays an exhibition itinerary that winds through the imposing structure in three sections: Sacred Art, Collectables and Contemporary Art. The core of the collections are works on canvas, wooden and stone sculptures from the regional heritage. The other sections are dedicated to the D’errico picture gallery made up of canvases from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of the Neapolitan school and to the pictorial work of Carlo Levi which includes the large canvas dedicated to his homeland of choice Lucania 61.
Cultural places
The city of Matera was improperly defined in the second half of the twentieth century as a national shame due to the terrible living conditions in which the inhabitants of the Sassi were forced to live in spite of themselves after the war. A feeling of shame which was followed by a real cultural removal on the part of the citizens who lived in the Sassi, was opposed by an idea of revenge and redemption in the new generations which led, also thanks to the contributions and exchanges that they have been with the artists and intellectuals who arrived in Matera, to overturn the situation and to the creation of new and interesting cultural and social experiences in some places of the Sassi which today are fully part of the cultural and social fabric of the city.
MUSMA - Museum of the contemporany sculpture of Matera
It is the most important museum entirely dedicated to contemporary sculpture in Italy, the only one in the world to have exhibition spaces in caves.
The exhibition area is located in the Sassi and occupies the entire historic building of the Pomarici family. In the lower underground floor the leitmotif is the union between environment and work of art while in the museum spaces of the "piano nobile" a historical-chronological discourse of contemporary sculpture is developed starting from the masters Medardo Rosso and Arturo Martini, up to the most recent avant-garde.
Casa Cava
Casa Cava or Cave House is a multipurpose cultural center entirely excavated in the rock located in the Sassi of Matera obtained in a fascinating rock complex that of the Sasso Barisano. The central body is represented by a well quarry, a particular quarry system that was used to extract stone ashlars for construction. Casa cava is a concert hall, a theatre, an exhibition space and a congress center but also a tourist attraction inside the Sassi of Matera. A place to visit where it has managed to achieve a perfect harmony between beauty and functionality.
House of Ortega
José Ortega arrives in Matera in October 1972 and comes into contact with local artists and intellectuals. He finds there an ideal place to live and work and establish valuable collaborations. In 1974 he bought part of this house, which has now become La Casa di Ortega, a project designed to document the presence of the great Spanish artist in Matera and to encourage the rediscovery and enhancement of the local artisan tradition.
The exhibition areas host the works created by Ortega during his stay in Matera in the 70s.
Casa Noha
Casa Noha is a FAI cultural center in the Sassi of Matera. The structure is housed in an apartment donated to the foundation by a family from Matera who lived there until a few decades ago. Inside the building it is possible to view the video “The invisible stones. Extraordinary journey through the history of Matera”. The film, projected on the walls, ceilings and floors of the rooms, offers the visitor a complete reconstruction of the history of the city of Matera from its origins to today.
Archeological National museum Domenico Ridola - Matera
The Domenico Ridola National Archaeological Museum was established in 1911 and is the oldest museum in Basilicata. The museum exhibits collections of naturalistic materials, ethnographic and artistic objects, and above all of precious archaeological finds collected by Ridola himself during the excavations he coordinated in the Matera area concerning Paleolithic and Neolithic frequentations.
Nazional medieval and modern art museum of Basilicata
Also known as the Palazzo Lanfranchi Museum from the seventeenth-century building of the same name that houses it, the museum displays an exhibition itinerary that winds through the imposing structure in three sections: Sacred Art, Collectables and Contemporary Art. The core of the collections are works on canvas, wooden and stone sculptures from the regional heritage. The other sections are dedicated to the D’errico picture gallery made up of canvases from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries of the Neapolitan school and to the pictorial work of Carlo Levi which includes the large canvas dedicated to his homeland of choice Lucania 61.
Cultural places
The city of Matera was improperly defined in the second half of the twentieth century as a national shame due to the terrible living conditions in which the inhabitants of the Sassi were forced to live in spite of themselves after the war. A feeling of shame which was followed by a real cultural removal on the part of the citizens who lived in the Sassi, was opposed by an idea of revenge and redemption in the new generations which led, also thanks to the contributions and exchanges that they have been with the artists and intellectuals who arrived in Matera, to overturn the situation and to the creation of new and interesting cultural and social experiences in some places of the Sassi which today are fully part of the cultural and social fabric of the city.
MUSMA - Museum of the contemporany sculpture of Matera
It is the most important museum entirely dedicated to contemporary sculpture in Italy, the only one in the world to have exhibition spaces in caves.
The exhibition area is located in the Sassi and occupies the entire historic building of the Pomarici family. In the lower underground floor the leitmotif is the union between environment and work of art while in the museum spaces of the "piano nobile" a historical-chronological discourse of contemporary sculpture is developed starting from the masters Medardo Rosso and Arturo Martini, up to the most recent avant-garde.
Casa Cava
Casa Cava or Cave House is a multipurpose cultural center entirely excavated in the rock located in the Sassi of Matera obtained in a fascinating rock complex that of the Sasso Barisano. The central body is represented by a well quarry, a particular quarry system that was used to extract stone ashlars for construction. Casa cava is a concert hall, a theatre, an exhibition space and a congress center but also a tourist attraction inside the Sassi of Matera. A place to visit where it has managed to achieve a perfect harmony between beauty and functionality.
House of Ortega
José Ortega arrives in Matera in October 1972 and comes into contact with local artists and intellectuals. He finds there an ideal place to live and work and establish valuable collaborations. In 1974 he bought part of this house, which has now become La Casa di Ortega, a project designed to document the presence of the great Spanish artist in Matera and to encourage the rediscovery and enhancement of the local artisan tradition.
The exhibition areas host the works created by Ortega during his stay in Matera in the 70s.
Casa Noha
Casa Noha is a FAI cultural center in the Sassi of Matera. The structure is housed in an apartment donated to the foundation by a family from Matera who lived there until a few decades ago. Inside the building it is possible to view the video “The invisible stones. Extraordinary journey through the history of Matera”. The film, projected on the walls, ceilings and floors of the rooms, offers the visitor a complete reconstruction of the history of the city of Matera from its origins to today.
Sito Italiano