Matera: The city where poverty makes history

We awake to silence, the beautiful Sassi still sleeping yet majestic, the rising sun chasing away the shadows to reveal its beauty. No tourists yet just the sound of the swallows announcing the dawn of a new day. The city awakens, the sound of church bells ring out from the many churches,  a solitary priest sings, his mournful voice echoes around the valley, we know we are in a very special place.

This is one amazing city with a remarkable history. So many times we’ve visited cities with histories shaped by wealth, warfare, politics or religion, yet here is a city steeped in a history borne entirely out of poverty. This is unique.

Wandering around its tiny streets and alley ways, stumbling upon crumbling buildings, turning into another piazza and coming face to face with another majestic church, is wonderful. Suddenly finding yourself at the edge of the gorge looking down on the fast flowing river way below is fantastic. Visiting the cave houses is humbling.

This city existed in isolation. Its temperate climate means lengthy spells without rainfall, so the complex system of capture and distribution of rain and spring water is inspired; numerous wells, cisterns and channels are hidden amongst the ancient buildings.

But the glory, if that’s the right word, of Matera, is its rupestrian dwellings and churches, hewn into the rock mostly by hand. We visit both today: some of the ancient sassi houses furnished as they would have been when inhabited, the incredible cave churches decorated with iconic cave paintings dating back centuries. We close our eyes and try and imagine life in this poverty, in these dank and dark places, no light, no sanitation, open sewers, no such thing as currency, but it’s hard to get there. Life must have been so tough. 

We visit the Cathedral, majestically overlooking the city oozing opulence, beautifully painted ceilings decorated with gold leaf. Stunning paintings which any master would be proud of, a stark contrast to the bare stone walls and faded frescoes of the rupestrian churches, although these must have been spectacular masterpieces in their day.

Part of the charm of Matera is the use of the steep hillsides in construction of the buildings; successive houses built into the rock, so forming almost vertical sections of the city, each ancient property stacked above those below, the facade often still the original rock face. It’s a spectacular place.

The city is absolutely full of swallows, endlessly circling above the sassi, feeding on the wing, their twittering calls echoing around the stone edifices. 

Unusually for the hungry travellers, we haven’t mentioned food yet. Well there’s plenty of local fayre here and we’ve already sampled a variety of elements of “cucina povera”, dishes from the peasant era. It’s all very tasty, especially the deliciously fresh vegetables, but the real joys of course are the red wines, particularly Primitivo from Puglia and Aglianico from the Naples area. 

This wonderful place has a lot to offer.