Caves of Matera

Thursday, November 8, was the Immacolata or Festival of the Immaculate Conception. This is essentially a national holiday. There were no classes and few shops and restaurants were open. Italians traditionally use this day to decorate their Christmas tree. Since the holiday fell this year on a Thursday, the director of the school decided to extend the break by cancelling classes on Friday as well, giving the students time to be with their host families and/or to travel independently. Amy and I along with our traveling companions, Keith and Carolyn, took the opportunity to travel for a 4-day, 3-night stay in Matera, located on the "instep" of the Italian boot in the Basilicata region, some 6 - 6.5 hour drive from Viterbo.

Matera has been inhabited for thousands of years. People have been dwelling there in caves since long before the Romans, Greeks, etc. Matera is famous for its cave dwellings, or perhaps infamous would be a better description. The abject poverty of this region was referred to as the "shame of Italy" (vergogna d'Italia). Even as recently as the mid to late 1960's, families of 8-10 were living in single room caves with their animals with no electricity or running water. Malaria was rampant and the infant mortality rate stood at more than 50%. Beginning in the mid-1950's, the Italian government undertook the more than decade-long project of moving people out of the caves and into more acceptable housing. Ironically, since poverty led to them being passed over for development, the caves are now a source of fascination and a tourist draw to the town. The Sassi or "rocks of Matera" have been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We stayed in a boutique hotel called Hotel Basiliani created from some of the cave dwellings. The construction of such a dwelling was interesting. The rock in the area is tufa, a variety of limestone, which is very soft and can actually be easily cut and worked with when first removed from the ground. It hardens over time when exposed to air. Thus, the caves did not need to be naturally occuring dwellings, although they might have started that way. Instead, they were dug out of the mountain. The dug material could be fashioned into blocks and used to build walls within the cave or, if there was level space available in front of the cave, exterior walls could be built to expand the "cave" without needing to dig as far into the side of the mountain.

The interior of one of the "raw" caves is pictures below. The white powder is some sort of chemical used to help with pest/insect control now that the caves stand empty.

Visitors can explore a typical cave dwelling which has been recreated in collaboration with the family that actually lived there. Below are pictures of the kitchen alcove and main room of the cave. While you get a sense of the space constraints and living conditions, I don't think one can ever fully appreciate what it must have been like living in an unlighted, unheated cave with a bunch of farm animals (and their manure).

That brings us to our hotel. Each room is different as it uses the existing rooms of the varous cave dwellings in a perfectly located spot at the edge of the cliffs. You don't get any sense at all of living in a cave since it has been completely redone with all the modern conveniences. The floors have been leveled and there is the electricity and plumbing you would expect in a luxury hotel. There was even free, high-speed WiFi! The main room was so large, we could have danced the tango in it. Below is the sleeping area, which is a small part of the main area.

Next is the wardrobe area, down a few steps from the main room.

The bathroom, complete with toilet, bidet and shower/bathtub (not shown to right of picture) was off the wardrobe area.

There was one reminder of the original space. A glass covered opening allowed us to look down into the very large cistern below the dwelling which would have been used to hold rain water collected through a series of specialized drains and channels from the mountain above.

We would HIGHLY recommend this experience to anyone who finds it intriguing. More of our adventures and the cities/towns we visited to follow over then next few postings.