Beneath the city lies a second one: cisterns, cellar vaults and cave churches, cut into the soft limestone.
Matera is not built on the rock but into it. Every cave dwelling had its cistern; beneath squares and houses lie stores, passages and vaults. Part of that is accessible today.
The great cisterns
The Palombaro Lungo beneath Piazza Vittorio Veneto is the most impressive: a tall room with pillars, its walls showing chisel marks and old water lines. Smaller cisterns belong to many houses in the Sassi.
Cave dwellings
Several furnished caves show how people lived here until the 1950s – a single room for family, stores and animals. More on the page about the cave dwellings.
Churches in the rock
The rock churches are the sacred side of the same principle: apses, columns and domes that were not built but worked out of the stone.
What to bring
Underground it is cool, even in high summer – a light jacket does no harm. Floors are uneven and in places damp.
Read on
- Matera Sotterranea – guided routes beneath the city
- Palombaro Lungo – the largest cistern
- MOOM – an oil mill underground
