Audio Guide: Matera Introduction Walking Tour (Self Guided), Matera

Architectural historian Anne Parmly Toxey said the cave areas of Matera had been occupied for at least 3,000 years. Archaeological research shows people lived here since the Paleolithic era, shaping homes and communal spaces directly into the soft limestone. Over centuries, those modest caves expanded into an intricate neighborhood-stone dwellings, churches, and twisting passageways stacked upon each other. Even its name carries layers: some trace it to the Latin mater, “mother,” evoking the idea of a cradle of settlement, while others suggest meta, “pile,” a reference to the heaped cliffs that define its terrain.

The city entered recorded history in 251 BCE, when Roman consul Lucius Caecilius Metellus founded it as Matheola. The old center developed along the ravines of the Gravina River, where generations continued to live underground in cave dwellings. After Rome’s fall, control shifted like a revolving door-Lombards, Byzantines, Normans-all leaving imprints in fortifications and religious life. By the Middle Ages, Matera’s cathedral, begun in the 13th century, stood at the heart of the city, while the town center remained densely populated with farmers, artisans, and shepherds who often lived side by side with livestock. Life in these cave homes was hard, but not primitive: their layout included a complex system of cisterns and channels for collecting water, proving the sophistication of this “underground city.”

The hardships of the city grew starker in modern times. By the 19th and 20th centuries, overcrowding and poverty plagued the old neighborhood, known as Sassi which means “Stones”. In the 1950s, conditions were deemed so dire that the government forcibly evacuated residents, branding the caves “the shame of Italy.” Entire families were moved into new housing blocks, and the ancient neighborhoods were left abandoned. But time reshaped judgment. Preservationists and scholars recognized the cultural and architectural value of the Sassi, and by the late 20th century restoration was underway. Matera’s revival culminated in 1993, when UNESCO inscribed it as a World Heritage Site.

Walking through Matera today, you’ll trace a path through layers of time. From panoramic views above the ravine to narrow lanes carved from stone, the city unfolds step by step. Highlights along the way include the Sassi in Miniatura, a hand-carved model that condenses centuries of architecture into a single view; the Cave House of Lonely Alley, which preserves a humble dwelling complete with period furnishings; and, hidden beneath Vittorio Veneto Square, the vast Long Diver cistern-dubbed a “water cathedral”-that showcases the ingenuity of past inhabitants. With every turn, Matera reveals its history.