The museum street of the upper town: archaeology, the regional museum and, at the end, the terrace above the Sasso Caveoso – all within a few hundred metres.
The stretch
Via Ridola links Piazza del Sedile with Piazzetta Pascoli. In a short distance it takes in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale Domenico Ridola in the former convent of Santa Chiara, the church of San Francesco da Paola, the Chiesa del Purgatorio with its unusual façade, and at the end Palazzo Lanfranchi with the regional museum.
Why the street is worth it
It is the densest stretch in the city for museums – and it ends with Matera’s best-known view. If you are short of time you get a great deal at once: two significant collections, one of the most idiosyncratic church façades in southern Italy, and the view across the whole Sasso Caveoso.
Practical
There are cafés and benches along the way; the street is level and manageable with a pushchair or wheelchair – unlike almost everything branching off it. For visitors who find steps difficult it is, together with Piazza Vittorio Veneto, the most important axis in the city.
When
In the morning, when the museums are open and the terrace at the end is not yet full. In heat and rain the street is the sensible choice anyway – you go from one interior to the next.
Read on
- Museo Ridola – the archaeological museum
- Palazzo Lanfranchi – the regional museum at the end of the street
- Piazzetta Pascoli – the terrace beyond
