Walk Through the Sasso Caveoso and the Sasso Barisano

Matera's two cave-house districts, the Sasso Barisano and the Sasso Caveoso, are walked on foot and on your own, with no entry fee: they are public streets, stairs and squares. You pay only for what you visit inside, such as the rock churches or a furnished cave house. Allow three or four hours in daylight and come back at night, when the façades are lit.

What the Sassi are

Matera is dug into a soft calcarenite, tufa, which can be cut with simple tools. For centuries each family dug its house into the rock and used the block removed to build the façade; under the houses they opened cisterns to store rainwater. By the mid-20th century the Sassi were overcrowded, without running water and with malaria, and a law of 1952 moved almost all their residents to new districts. They stood empty for decades, were restored from the late 1980s and in 1993 entered the World Heritage list together with the park of rock churches opposite.

The walk step by step

1. Piazza Vittorio Veneto. Start in the square of the upper town. From its viewpoints you see the Barisano for the first time, and beneath your feet is the Palombaro Lungo, the great cistern.
2. Sasso Barisano. Go down the stairs to the district facing north, the most restored, with houses turned into hotels, workshops and restaurants. Look in at the rock church of San Pietro Barisano, which has an entry fee.
3. The Civita. Climb the spur that separates the two Sassi, crowned by the 13th-century Romanesque cathedral. Its cultural route, with the diocesan museum, has a separate ticket.
4. Sasso Caveoso. Go down to the southern district, more open to the ravine and more like it was. Here are the Casa Grotta di Vico Solitario and the crag of Santa Maria de Idris, one of the rock churches you can visit.
5. San Pietro Caveoso. End in the church square, at the edge of the Gravina, with the Murgia opposite. From here, on Via Madonna delle Virtù, is Porta Pistola, where trail 406 begins.

Without entering anywhere, the walk takes about two hours; with two or three visits, half a day.

What you pay for inside

The rock churches on the Oltre l'Arte circuit cost €4.50 for one, €8 for two and €10 for three; children up to age 10 enter free with their parents. There is a €25 ticket that adds up the three churches, the Vicinato a Pozzo, the cave house on Via Fiorentini, the cathedral route, the Purgatory exhibition and the Bread Museum. The Casa Grotta di Vico Solitario is separate, €8 for adults.

When to go

Spring and autumn. In July and August the stone gives back heat and at midday you cannot walk the stairs in the sun: set out first thing and return at dusk. In winter there are fewer people and the odd foggy day that leaves the Sassi almost unreal. From 2 November 2026 the circuit's churches open from 9:30 to 16:30, so at this time do the visits in the morning and leave the afternoon for strolling.

Come back at night: the lights on the façades are the other half of the visit, and the streets are quiet.

Getting there and parking

The Sassi are a limited traffic zone: you cannot enter by car. Park in the upper town and walk down (read the limited traffic zone page). If you arrive on the train from Bari, Matera Centrale station is ten minutes' walk from Piazza Vittorio Veneto.

With children, pushchairs and reduced mobility

The walk is a succession of stairs and cobbled slopes: no pushchair, yes baby carrier. Children enjoy the furnished cave house, with the high bed and the manger beside it, and the Palombaro cistern. With reduced mobility, the upper part of the city and the viewpoints at Piazza Vittorio Veneto and the Civita give the view without going down.

For food, the Panificio Cifarelli sells Matera bread to take away; if you want to sleep inside the Sassi, Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita occupies restored caves.