A small, enclosed square between the upper and the old town – once a market, today music. Get lost in Matera and sooner or later you come out here.
A square like a courtyard
Piazza del Sedile lies halfway between Piazza Vittorio Veneto and the Civita. The square is tightly framed and built up on all sides, which makes it feel almost like an inner courtyard – a clear contrast to the broad main square a few minutes away.
For centuries it was the market place. The small arches and passageways around it date from that time.
The palace
It takes its name from Palazzo del Sedile, long the seat of the city administration, today the conservatoire. On many days music drifts out of the windows – scales, broken-off passages, the same bar several times over. That sets the square apart from every other in the city and is reason enough to sit down for a few minutes.
Setting
From here lanes lead into both Sassi and up to the cathedral. The square is the junction of the upper town: get lost and you come out here – and from here you find your way back in any direction.
Read on
- Palazzo del Sedile – the building that gives the square its name
- Rione Civita – the climb to the cathedral
- The old town of Matera – the upper town as a whole
