Italy – Around the World In Flip Flops

July 16 2024

This 9000-year-old Italian city needs to be on your travel bucket list

around.the.world.in.flip.flops Europe, Italy 0

Everyone has heard of Rome and Pompeii, ancient cities filled with History to explore in the beautiful country of Italy. Rome is nearly 3000 years old and Pompeii counts with 2000 years of History, so naturally they are amazing places to visit and it’s no wonder they get millions of tourists every year.

But what if I told you that there is a way older city than that, hidden in the italian countryside and still not on many people’s radars?

That city is called Matera and it’s actually Italy’s oldest city.

The History of this unique city started when people settled there as early as 7000 BC and lived in caves. You can still see remains of those prehistoric caves today and it’s the experience of a lifetime, so you might be surprised to learn that this place was once considered “the same of Italy”.

That’s right: Matera has gone through a lot, from a thriving prehistoric settlement, to an embarassing place for the nation and finally to a gorgeous city that is slowly being discovered by tourists.

Did I get your attention? Great! Let me take you on a journey through thousands of years of History in a city that you will hopefully want to visit by the end of this post.

Matera

Do you remember that I wrote above that Matera is the oldest city in Italy? Well, this ancient city is way more than that: it’s considered by many as the oldest city in Europe and even one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the whole World, after Aleppo and Jericho.

These facts will not surprise you if you have ever seen pictures of Matera: it looks ancient, like a time capsule waiting to be explored.

Sassi di Matera

Prehistoric Matera

The most unique thing about the city of Matera is how you can still experience its prehistoric essence, even after thousands of years have passed. Still to this day, you can visit caves where people lived in prehistoric times and if that’s probably one of the coolest and most unforgettable travel experiences you will ever have.

To explore the oldest part of Matera, you will need to cross the ravine and head to Murgia Materana Park: that’s where you can find fascinating historic sites like the famous cave churches, the remains of villages that date back to Neolithic times and even a place where the movie “The Passion of the Christ” was filmed.

It’s a gorgeous and truly special area to explore but it can become quite overwhelming to understand where to go and what to see, so it might be a good option to take a guided tour of the Murgia Materana Park.

Book your guided tour here 🎫

Sassi di Matera

This is the name that the central part of Matera is known for and it‘s the place where you will find plenty of accommodations, restaurants and things to see and do.

This are called Sassi di Matera is actually divided into two different districts: Sasso Caveoso and Sasso Barisano. Put together, they create that magical view of Matera that you have probably seen on pictures and videos. Actually, you might even recognize it from some movies, since there have been several film productions taking place there, including “007 – No Time to Die”, “Wonder Woman” and “Mary Magdalene”.

Go on a "James Bond 007" Guided Tour in Matera 🎬

There is so much to see and do in Sassi di Matera and I would definitely recommend you to explore on your own, but one of the best decisions I made in Matera was to take a guided tour of the Sassi. It‘s such a historic city that, even though it‘s an amazing experience to simply walk around and admire it, the most important part is learning more about its History so you know what you‘re looking at an can see it from a totally different perspective.

Learn more about Sassi di Matera on this guided tour 🎫

“The shame of Italy”

The city of Matera might have gone through thriving periods throughout History, but it was considered a shame for the country at one point. This city was built of caves and, as you can imagine, those weren‘t considered ideal conditions for humans to live in when society developed higher standards than the ones during prehistoric times.

In fact, when I took a guided tour of the Sassi, I was shocked to learn about the previous chaotic reality of Matera from our guide: people lived with electricity, sewage or hygiene conditions in the caves, turning the town into an open-air sewage. Extreme poverty was part of the reality of the population of Matera and malaria had easy grounds to spread like a bushfire. Animals lived together in the caves with the city‘s inhabitants, which didn‘t make the living standards much better, as you can imagine.

All of this was quite unknown (or forgotten) until a journalist visited Matera in the 1950s and saw the poor conditions that people lived in there, nicknaming it “the shame of Italy”.

Wanting to erase the embarassment, the Italian Government decided to take strong action and move all 16000 people from the Sassi to a more modern area of Matera, where they got to live in actual buildings instead of caves.

While this definitely sounds like an improvement, many people struggled to adapt to a totally new way of living. On the guided tour I took, we learned from our guide that his grandfather was one of the thousands of people that were forced to move out of the caves and into the apartment buildings – and apparently it wasn‘t such a smooth transition. His grandfather‘s memories were of trying to put the family‘s animals in the apartment and eventually giving up, having to keep them on the balcony instead.

Learn more about the History of Matera on this guided tour 🎫

From an embarassment to the nation to a UNESCO World Heritage Site

I’m sure you understand what a special place Matera is by now, thanks to all its History and the unique way in which it is built. But in my opinion there’s something that makes it even more special: the way in which it seems to come back from the ashes time after time.

Being nicknamed “the shame of Italy” could easily have been the final blow that made this city be forgotten and lost forever, but it has become a thriving historic city filled with tourists just some decades after that disastrous reputation started spreading about it.

Not only is Matera a developed city ready to receive tourists by now, it’s even a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Sassi di Matera was awarded that title in 1993, giving the city the recognition it deserved all along.

If you have made it this far, I hope you enjoyed learning more about the amazing italian city of Matera and that you decide to include it on your Italy travel plans! I’ve been to Italy 5 times and visited countless cities all over the country but I have to admit that Matera has a very place in my heart. I’m sure it will make an impression on you too if you decide to give it a chance!

Don’t you have enough time to sleep in Matera? That amazing city is definitely worth an overnight stay but if you’re lacking enough time for it, check this day trip to Alberobello and Matera from Bari or Polignano.