Museo-Laboratorio della Civilta Contadina (Museum-Workshop of the Peasant Culture), Matera

Located in the heart of Matera’s iconic Sassi district, the Museum‑Workshop of the Peasant Culture (Museo‑Laboratorio della Civiltà Contadina) is a captivating ethnographic museum that brings to life the traditional agricultural and artisan society of the region. Housed in a restored 16th‑century “lamione”-a structure built above a cave dwelling (casa‑grotta) to shelter families away from their livestock at night-the museum immerses visitors in a tangible slice of rural history.

Spanning around 500 square meters, the museum is planned to gradually double its size to include interactive workshops where young people can learn ancient crafts such as papier‑mâché, pottery, and basket‑making. Inside, a network of connected rooms recreates the typical living and working spaces of Matera’s past-containing artisan workshops, daily‑life interiors like public wine cellars (ciddaro), and exhibits highlighting aspects of southern Italian history, including brigandage and childhood.

What sets the museum apart is its immersive, lifelike presentation: rather than displaying artifacts in dispassionate showcases, the curators sought to faithfully reconstruct environments in which those items once functioned. This was achieved through both scholarly research in peasant literature and oral history from elderly locals whose personal memories lent unmatched authenticity to the settings.

Beyond exhibition, the cultural association managing the museum fosters educational activities-ranging from tourist visits to projects tailored to school groups. They also publish works such as “Tales from the Museum,” as well as guidebooks, virtual‑tour CD‑ROMs, and materials on traditional water‑harvesting systems in Matera.