Hotels in Matera

Matera sits in the Basilicata region of southern Italy, carved into and around a pair of ravines known as the Sassi. The cave dwellings here date back at least 9,000 years, making Matera one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements on Earth. UNESCO added the Sassi to its World Heritage list in 1993, recognizing the layered geology of tufa stone, rock-cut churches, and cistern networks that define the urban fabric. In 2019, Matera served as a European Capital of Culture — a designation that accelerated restoration work and drew international attention to a city that had been largely overlooked for decades.

Visitors come primarily for the Sassi districts: Sasso Caveoso and Sasso Barisano. The Palombaro Lungo, a vast underground cistern beneath Piazza Vittorio Veneto, is open for guided tours. The rupestrian churches — Santa Maria de Idris and the Cripta del Peccato Originale among them — preserve Byzantine frescoes dating to the 8th and 9th centuries. Photographers and filmmakers have long used Matera as a stand-in for ancient Jerusalem; Mel Gibson shot The Passion of the Christ here in 2003, and the city appeared in the 2021 Bond film No Time to Die.

Matera lies roughly 65 km from Taranto and about 400 km southeast of Rome. The nearest airport with regular service is Bari Karol Wojtyła Airport, approximately 60 km north. The city centre is compact and walkable, though the stone-paved lanes of the Sassi require sturdy footwear.