Guided tour of the Sassi of Matera

The Sasso Barisano takes its name because of its position. Being oriented towards north-west, it takes its name from the city of Bari. Initially it represents the primary part of the stones together with the Civita.

Formerly "Piazza Maggiore" used in the fourteenth century. as a market square and surrounded by warehouses, taverns and shops, in 1550 it was arranged to house the offices of the governor, the city prisons, and the municipal building or "seat".

located in the central Piazza Sedile, it was built in 1540, renovated in 1759, and is the seat of the "Egidio Romualdo Duni" Conservatory of Music and the Gervasio Auditorium. The façade has two bell towers and is decorated with six statues. Overlooking the same square there is also the Governor's Palace, dating back to the seventeenth century, the first seat of the Royal Audience of Basilicata. Its basement was used as a prison for the city. Today it houses a hotel.

The square is located on the top of the Civita and houses the beautiful Cathedral of Matera, built between 1230 and 1270, dedicated to the Madonna della Bruna and to Sant’Eustachio.

The cathedral was built in the Romanesque-Apulian style in the 13th century on the highest spur of the Civita, which divides the two districts Sassi Barisano and Caveoso; the historical context in which the cathedral was built is of economic, political and cultural dynamism, the main axis of which was the close link with the ports of nearby Puglia, to which Matera belonged because it is part of the Land of Otranto.

The scenic road used for the famous VIA CRUCIS in the film DAL GOSVEL ACCORDING TO MATTEO by PASOLINI (1964) and THE PASSION OF CHRIST by MEL GIBSON (2002) is shown.

The square of San Pietro Caveoso, with a rectangular plan, has a beautiful view of the ravine highlighted by an arch on the left of the homonymous church. A view that offers a particular glimpse of the opposite Murgia with its rock churches and on the right the ridge with the 'empty eye sockets', natural cavities adapted, in ancient times, to pastoral needs.

Sasso Caveoso, oriented towards the south, takes its name from the city of Montescaglioso, known in the Middle Ages as Mons Caveous. It is characterized by houses carved into the tuff, built one on top of the other. The front part of the house was built with the excavated material, thus closing the "cave", hence the name "house-cave". The layout of these houses recalls the cavea of a theater, with cave houses that descend in steps towards the ravine. Originally the area is secondary to Civita and Sasso Barisano, it begins to populate only following a strong immigration flow of Balkan populations during the sixteenth century.

Located to the left of the seventeenth-century Palazzo Lanfranchi, Piazzetta Pascoli takes its name from the Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli, who in Matera, between 1882 and 1884, began his career as a teacher of Latin and Greek. It is the point from which you can enjoy one of the most beautiful panoramic views of the Sassi of Matera.

Entrances included in the typically furnished cave house, a typical peasant house that describes the reality of carlo levi in christ stopped at eboli.

MIT - IMMERSIVE THEATRICAL MUSEUM OF THE LIVING NATIVITY SCENE. Located in Via San Biagio 15, it is an ancient hypogeum on 5 levels completely carved into the rock