Matera - Town of Caves

The Grey Veil

The strangely grey town of Matera has a history as unique and unusual as its landscape. From the moment of arrival you will know that there is something different about Matera - a town as unearthly and mysterious as it is beautiful. Matera is carved out of the steep cliffs which surround the valley it looks out over. The valley floor is far below and on the other side of the valley only sparse bushes and the caves of the pock marked cliff face can be seen. But on the west side a town has formed;  an ancient town where folk have lived the same way for centuries. No colour breaks the scene, Only at nights the amber of the street lights and the small glow through the windows of family homes can be seen.

The cliff faces where the houses of Matera have taken root are steep and inhospitable. Mostly there are only small paths and stairs as access- ways. Few roadways make their way up the cliff. At the top of the valley the rooftops of Matera's New Town can be seen. But the valley remains the domain of the cliff dwellers. Matera Old Town has the presence of antiquity. It feels untouched, impenetrable, unyielding to modern times. It is a town of the past which has survived to the present day, somehow escaping all modernisation. The grayness of ancient Matera in particular, sets it aside from other historic towns where the colours of paint and decoration have changed the face of the past.






The historic face of Matera is not its only face. There is the modern part of this town also, which resembles medium sized urban towns found all over Italy. But the old stone cave houses, -  the Sassi of Matera - are the face of the town which is so unique and and which creates a backdrop to be found nowhere else in Italy.

The film industry has also discovered Matera, with many shoots now taking place in amongst the cave-homes, the stone paths and the churches part buried into the rocks. As you watch on the big screen whether you are in ancient Rome or Jerusalem, or in the Sassi of Matera, you may never know.

Also Pip McCurdy's New Zealand posts:

On Blogspot, Pip McCurdy on the Road

Website: http://www.unusualstays.com/

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