Starting with 1043, Matera was ruled by the Normans, and later, in the 15th century, the city came under Aragonese domination. The city was ceded later by the Aragonese to the Count Giovan Carlo Tramontano, who was killed by the oppressed population in 1514. Matera was the first Italian city to rise against the German occupation, on September 21, 1943.
GEOGRAPHY: Today, Matera is a city of about 60,000 inhabitants located in the homonymous province, in the eastern part of the Italian region of Basilicata. Gravina di Matera stream flows into the deep natural ravine that delimits the two ancient districts of the city: Sasso Barisano and Sasso Caveoso.
Matera is located about 60 kilometers south of Bari, 85 kilometers east of the capital city of the Basilicata region, Potenza, about 245 kilometers east of Naples and about 435 kilometers southeast of Rome.
TRANSPORT: The closest airport is Karol Wojtyła Airport, located about 64 kilometers away, near Bari. From the airport, you can take a direct bus to Matera. The ticket costs 3€ and the trip takes one hour and 15 minutes. From Bari, by train, you can get to Matera in about one hour and a half, using the services of the local company Ferrovie Appulo Lucane. A single ticket costs 5€.
LANDMARKS: The most interesting things in Matera are the Sassi. The Sassi are the ancient districts of the city, in which cave houses are dug into limestone rocks. In the 1950s, the Italian government relocated by force the population of the Sassi to modern areas of the city. Since 1993, the Sassi were declared UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
In Matera, there are many beautiful churches, of which we can mention the Cathedral of Matera, dedicated to the Madonna della Bruna and to Saint Eustace, the Church of Saints Peter and Paul, known also as the Church of San Pietro Caveoso, the Church of San Giovanni Battista and the Baroque Church of Sant'Agostino. Beside these, you can also visit the magnificent Palazzo dell'Annunziata, the Tramontano Castle or the beautiful Palazzo Lanfranchi, which houses the National Museum of Medieval and Modern Art of Basilicata.