Standing in Matera feels less like sightseeing and more like stepping into a living archaeological time machine. As you walk through the winding stone lanes of the Sassi, you’re not only admiring the incredible scenery, you’re tracing nearly 9,000 years of human history – prehistory to modern day, all in the same place.
If you’re a history lover planning a trip to Italy and craving somewhere deeper than the typical Florence-Rome-Venice circuit, this is your place. And if you truly want to understand it, you need a Matera walking tour led by someone who grew up here.
After years of traveling through Italy’s medieval towns, Roman ruins, and Renaissance cities, I can say without hesitation: this was the most meaningful organized tour I’ve taken in Europe. Some places you can get by with reading placards and doing some research on your own. This is not one of them.
In this guide, I’ll share:
- What makes this the best Matera walking tour for history buffs
- What you’ll actually see inside the Sassi cave dwellings
- How physically demanding it is (important!)
- Why context completely changes your experience
- Practical travel tips for making the most of your visit
If you love layered stories, resilient communities, and the kind of history that isn’t sanitized for tourists, keep reading.
Matera is the oldest city in the country and was once called “the shame of Italy.” Today, it’s one of Europe’s most extraordinary cultural treasures. As they like to say in Matera, “From shame to fame!” And the right walking tour doesn’t just show you the city, it allows you understand how it survived, transformed, and endured through time.
We came to Matera as part of our Epic 16-Day Italy Road Trip With Your Dog, and it was one of our best memories.
Why You Should Book a Matera Walking Tour First
If you want to truly understand and experience Matera, not just photograph it, this is the walking tour I recommend. Check availability before planning the rest of your itinerary.
We booked our Matera walking tour through Viator and paid just over $60 total for two people. It was a small-group English tour led by our guide, Gaetano, who grew up in Matera. His grandparents had even lived in the caves.
It was incredible to hear firsthand accounts: what it meant to sleep in a cave beside livestock, how families survived drought, why neighbors depended on one another, and how painful their forced relocation out of the ancient caves in the 1960s and 70s truly was.
For American travelers with immigrant ancestry, this tour will hit you. When Gaetano spoke about the wave of Southern Italians who left for a new life in the United States, it stopped feeling like “Italian history” and started feeling closer.
If you are looking for depth over photo ops, book the walking tour for your first morning in Matera. It will frame everything else you see afterwards. And you’ll be equipped with the knowledge to understand and appreciate what you see in a new way.
Life Inside the Sassi Cave Homes
The families of Matera lived in two-room cave dwellings, sometimes with ten or more children, without electricity, running water, or heat.
Animals weren’t outside. They were in the cave with the people. Donkeys and sheep slept near the beds to provide warmth. Fermented straw and animal waste were used as insulation and for humidity control. Beds were built high so chickens could shelter underneath.
Walking through one preserved cave home museum, I remember hearing an audio recording of a former resident describing the warmth of sheep breath on winter nights. It was intimate, human, and sobering.
And it wasn’t ancient history, either, although people had lived in this way since ancient times. People were still living like this well into the 1970s.
Hearing these stories in person completely changed how I saw the city. If you want to understand the lived experience, this Matera walking tour is worth every euro.
From “Shame of Italy” to UNESCO Treasure
After World War II, the Italian government declared the Sassi a national disgrace. Residents were forcibly relocated to modern housing several kilometers away. Doors were locked. Bars were installed to prevent return. But many didn’t want to leave.
Our guide described it as a quiet civil war within the city. Families and neighbor groups were separated intentionally to break generational bonds of community. In their new modern apartments, former cave dwellers kept animals in their parking spaces and grew herbs in bidets because modern fixtures were unfamiliar to them.
Despite the trauma of relocation, within a decade infant mortality dropped drastically. Clean water and sanitation improved health. Slowly, life changed and adapted.
In the 1990s, Matera earned designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site under UNESCO, not just for the caves themselves, but for the astonishing underground water management system of cisterns and channels carved into rock.
Today, the caves house wine bars, boutique hotels, restaurants, gift shops, and even a Michelin-starred dining room. The transformation is staggering.
This was a “neighborhood.” These four families would have been very close to each other and traded food and wool, and helped each other to survive. “We learn lessons here,” said Gaetano. “If you only try to live on sheep and wool it is very hard. But if you trade wool for vegetables, or eggs for meat, and everyone helps each other, then it is easier. Together is how we survive. We cannot alone.” When families were relocated these groups were split in order to destroy these tribal bonds and force people into modern ways of thinking.
Why Matera Feels Different From Other Italian Cities
Unlike Florence or Rome, Matera still feels discoverable, rather than over-touristed.
It sits in the center of “the boot,” between Bari to the east and the Amalfi Coast to the west, definitely off the traditional tourist path. The first modern hotel only opened here in 2001.
When we visited, crowds were light, which surprised me a little. Its history and atmosphere are incredible, and it has hosted major film productions, including The Passion of the Christ and the James Bond film No Time to Die. But you can still stand on a terrace at dusk and hear mostly wind.
For travelers who avoid overly commercialized destinations, Matera is a rare jewel.
What You’ll See on a Matera Walking Tour
A quality Matera walking tour typically includes:
- A preserved cave dwelling museum
- Rock-hewn churches with faded Byzantine frescoes
- The ancient cistern and rainwater collection systems that earned Matera UNESCO status
- Medieval expansions built above original caves
- Community ovens where families stamped initials into bread loaves
- Overlook views across the ravine, where the first humans settled 9000 years ago
One of the practical moments I remember was learning why the stone staircases tilt forward. Wastewater once flowed down the streets into canals below. “Walk like a duck,” our guide joked, demonstrating how to angle your feet to avoid slipping on polished limestone.
Is the Matera Walking Tour Physically Demanding?
The short answer is, moderately.
Matera is definitely a vertical city, so you can expect:
- Uneven stone pathways
- Many stairs that have been worn unevenly
- Sloped walkways
- Occasional low cave ceilings
If you are comfortable walking a mile or two at a relaxed pace and handling stairs (even slowly), you’ll be fine.
Wear sturdy, non-slip shoes. This is not a city for smooth-soled loafers. And walk like a duck! One of our days in Matera included a rare downpour so that advice came in handy!
The pace was manageable and thoughtfully structured, even for travelers in their 60s and 70s. You can view the full tour details and pace description here.
Don’t Miss the View from Across the Gorge
After the tour, we hiked across the ravine to see the city of Matera from the opposite undeveloped side.
From there, you can see the full layering, like an onion: prehistoric caves on the bottom, medieval expansions above them, and modern structures on top, stacked like geological strata of human history.
You can find and explore shepherd caves along the cliffs opposite the city, once used during grazing season. It’s quiet now, but locals remember when voices rang out constantly across the gorge as residents shouted messages back and forth to their families and friends.
If mobility allows, make time for this short hike. The views are stunning, you can get closer to the first human inhabited caves, and it adds powerful context to what you learned on your walking tour.
Practical Matera Travel Tips
Book your Matera walking tour first thing. It will enrich the rest of your visit.
Plan for at least one overnight stay. Day trips from Bari are possible, but the magic happens after sunset.
Consider a cave hotel carefully. They are atmospheric and beautiful, but if you have respiratory sensitivities, note that air circulation can vary. And there are considerations if you have a dog. You can read our review of staying overnight in a Matera cave with our french bulldog here.
Pin your hotel, parking, or meeting point location offline and download the Italian language on Google translate. Cell reception can be pretty wonky with all the stone corridors.
Expect incredible food. Local specialties include handmade pasta, pistachios grown in the arid soil of the region, olives, and rustic bread baked in communal ovens. A local told me “there is no bad place to eat,” and he was right.
How Long Should You Stay in Matera?
One night is the minimum. Two nights is ideal. But that said, don’t give up a day trip if that’s all you can do. Something is better than nothing!
Matera is best appreciated with slow exploration, wandering at dusk when the golden lights come on, lingering over dinner in a candlelit cave, and returning to overlooks at different times of day.
For history lovers especially, this is not a checklist destination. It’s a place to sink into, and absorb.
Why This Matera Walking Tour Stands Out
Of all the tours I’ve taken across Italy, this Matera walking tour felt the most human, and taught me the most. It wasn’t about monuments, or memorials, it was a deeply moving story about resilience, adaptation, community, immigration, and survival against the odds. It will stick with you long after you return home.
If you’re planning a trip to southern Italy and want something intellectually rich, emotionally moving, and still blissfully under-crowded, book the walking tour.
You’ll see the caves, but more importantly, you’ll understand them. And that’s really what makes Matera unforgettable.
Today in Matera
Today, the caves have transformed into hotels, B&Bs, cafés, shops, restaurants and bars. The Italian government owns them all and leases them for about $300-400 a year for a maximum of 99 years. Businesses have invested huge sums to renovate and equip the ancient spaces with electricity and water and heat. Every business must preserve the character of the city, and maintain a discreet profile. No billboards or golden arches in the Sassi (the two ancient neighborhoods that make up the old town).
A Bright Future
After the residents were forced out, an order came down to destroy the entire city. Ultimately, Matera was spared because of the expense it would have taken to level it. I gasped when I heard that, to think of all the beauty and rich history here that would have been lost.
But the future looks bright for this incredible place, and you shouldn’t hesitate to jump in and explore.
How to get to Matera
The best way to get to Matera is by car. You should be a confident driver if you are coming from the Amalfi coast side. But for rentals, DiscoverCars makes it very easy with multiple locations in Italy for pickups, easy-to-compare prices from reputable rental car companies, and 24/7 customer service in English. It’s always our go-to for Italy and beyond.
We traveled by car, but there are many ways to get to Matera, despite its location off the beaten path. This link will give you the details of train, bus, and air from the most popular spots in Italy.
🌞 Here’s a link to check the weather in Matera before you go!
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