The central square of the upper town – and the place where most visits begin. If you want to get your bearings in Matera, you start here.
The square
Piazza Vittorio Veneto is Matera’s main square: broad, framed by palaces and churches, in the evening the meeting place of the whole city. From here a terrace runs to the edge of the Sasso Barisano, so that you look straight from the square into the cave district – the Belvedere Luigi Guerricchio with its three arches.
That transition is what makes the square special: on one side cafés and traffic, on the other, three steps away, a view over a city where people lived in caves until seventy years ago.
What lies beneath the square
The square is undermined. Beneath the paving lie the Palombaro Lungo – the city’s largest cistern – and further cavities rediscovered during rebuilding. Part of them is accessible. Sit on this square and you sit above a room the size of a cathedral.
Around it
On the square stand Palazzo dell’Annunziata with the city library and cinema, the church of San Domenico with its Romanesque façade, and several cafés. From here the main axis of the upper town continues to Piazza del Sedile.
When
In the early evening, at the passeggiata, the square is at its liveliest – that is when the city comes out and you see Matera as a place people live rather than only as scenery. During the day it is the most practical starting point for everything else.
Read on
- Palombaro Lungo – the cistern beneath
- Belvedere Luigi Guerricchio – the terrace at the edge
- The old town of Matera – the upper town as a whole
