Where to stay in Matera

A city carved into a ravine and lived in for nine thousand years, abandoned within living memory and now extraordinary again. Unlike anywhere else in Italy, and worth the detour south it takes to reach.

Matera is three towns: the Piano on top, below it the two Sassi falling to the Gravina ravine either side of the Civita and its Duomo. Sasso Barisano, to the north, is the restored one, where most cave hotels are, nearest the shops and car parks; Sasso Caveoso, to the south, is rawer and quieter, and every errand from it ends in a climb.

It suits walkers and photographers. It does not suit poor knees or heavy luggage: the Sassi are stairs from top to bottom and a ZTL, so you park above while the hotel's cart brings the bags down. Cave rooms are cool, dim and sometimes windowless. Most people arrive from Bari, by road or on the slow Ferrovie Appulo Lucane line, which runs no trains on Sundays.

Two nights is the minimum, because the point of Matera is the hour after the day trips leave, when the lamps come on across the ravine. It pairs with Puglia: Alberobello is about an hour away, Lecce over two. Matera first, then the coast. Keep the Piano's terraces for evening, when the sun is behind you.

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