A concert hall in a former quarry – underground, with surprising acoustics. The best reason not to spend your evening in Matera only over dinner.
From quarry to hall
Casa Cava lies in the Sasso Barisano in the cavities of a former quarry. Where blocks were once sawn out for house building, there is now a cultural venue with an auditorium, exhibition areas and rooms for conferences.
The connection is literal: the houses above the hall are built from the stone that is missing here. In Matera every larger cavity is at the same time a piece of the city somewhere else.
The room
The walls show the saw marks of extraction – parallel grooves from which the direction of work can be read. The acoustics are unusually good: the porous stone absorbs reverberation without making the sound dull. For a hall that was never planned as a hall, that is a remarkable accident.
Programme
Concerts, readings, conferences and exhibitions. If you want to experience Matera in the evening, there is regularly something here – and you sit several metres below street level while you do.
Read on
- Sasso Barisano – the district above
- Matera Sotterranea – what else lies beneath the city
- Museums in Matera – the other houses
