Guided tour Sassi di Matera

Matera lays on a plateau and the two old districts called Sassi are vertically built within a large canyon, on a side of the cliff. The tour starts with a good historical introduction of the city from one of the panoramic terraces in the upper and more modern part of the city called “il Piano”, above the Sassi districts, analyzing the different stages of urban evolution that Matera had over the centuries, looking at the most important characteristics regarding Matera’s history and architecture. The tour will proceed descending along a maze of paths and staircases where there will be numerous stops for historical deepening, also in reference to those aspects connected to living in the Sassi that have determined the deterioration of the socio-economic conditions of the territory with the progressive, slow and inexorable decay of the Sassi area that evetually become the slum of the city till the ecviction occurred. Nowadays Matera is attending a rebirt of its ancient core. Along the tour we might visit a couple of attractions such as a rock church, a cave dwellings, or the underground water collection systems, cellars dug into the rock; all elements necessary for understanding the architecture and the culture of the city.