Cave Hotel
Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita
Set in the oldest part of Matera’s Sassi, its rooms are carved into ancient caves: stone walls, candlelight, centuries of history still visible in the spaces.
Diana's Matera Guide
Three days in Matera: the places I went, and loved, plus a few on my list for next time.
Get the complete Matera map on Substack↗As a hotel staff member walked me to my room, she stopped to show me seashell fossils in the wall. Matera’s soft limestone was once beneath the ancient sea, then became homes carved into the hillside. As recently as the 1950s, families lived in these caves without running water, sometimes alongside their animals. The Sassi were once called “the shame of Italy.” In 1993, they became a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
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Stay
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Wander
Old Town · UNESCO
Sassi di Matera
Roughly a half-hour loop on foot. Wear comfortable shoes. Pick a different viewpoint every evening, and watch the city turn from gold to blue, then light by light, until the whole Sassi glows.
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Eat
Breakfast · Cave Church
Breakfast in the cave church
Breakfast was served in a 13th-century cave church.
Restaurant
Madame Giulia
Sunset dinner over the Sassi, from golden hour to blue hour. Order the handmade orecchiette and the burrata toast with crispy peperoni cruschi.
Restaurant
Vitantonio Lombardo
A Michelin-starred take on Basilicata cooking, steps from the hotel. The elegant night out.
Restaurant
Baccanti
A Michelin Guide restaurant in the caves. Book well in advance.
Restaurant
Osteria MateraMì
An osteria in the Sassi serving Lucanian classics. Book early.
Restaurant
Zipa Café
A cocktail bar carved into the rock below the Madonna dell'Idris, with a terrace over the Sassi rooftops.
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Shop
Craft Shop
Bottega dell'Artigianato Domestico
A workshop weaving wool blankets on antique wooden looms. Many of the blankets at Sextantio are made here by hand. In the old Matera, she said, nearly every cave had a loom, because every woman wove for her family. Few still do.
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Day trip
Day Trip · Puglia
Altamura
Twenty minutes from Matera, Altamura is famous for its bread, but its cheesemaking tradition runs just as deep. I visited Caseificio Dicecca and Caseificio Stella Dicecca, two separate, fourth-generation family dairies that happen to share the Dicecca name.
Walk in and the whole room smells of milk. The walls are hung with round cheeses, little cow shapes, and aged ones with the funniest names: Mars, made with red pepper; Gold; a blue cheese aged in red wine with cherries; truffle stracciatella. Among the most traditional are the round Pallone di Gravina, one of Italy’s rarest cheeses.
Bakery · Altamura
Santa Caterina Traditional Bakery
One of Altamura’s historic bakeries, with roots dating back to 1306. Come for the wood-fired Pane di Altamura.
