Parco della Murgia Materana

UNESCO World Heritage Site (The Sassi And The Park Of The Rupestrian Churches Of Matera, Inscribed 1993), Covering The Murgia Plateau And Over 150 Rock Cut Churches Across The Gravina From The Town · Matera, Basilicata

Everybody photographs Matera from this side and almost nobody crosses over. The Gravina canyon runs between the town and a limestone plateau, and cut into that plateau are something over a hundred and fifty rock churches: chambers hollowed out of the stone between roughly the eighth and thirteenth centuries, several of them frescoed, with carved apses and columns left standing in the rock because there was nothing to build with. They are part of the same World Heritage listing as the Sassi and they are the half of it that gets ignored. Getting there means either a long drive round or walking down into the ravine and back up the far side, which is the better way and takes about two hours return. The reward, apart from the churches, is the view back at Matera that every photograph of the town is taken from. Take water; there is none, and no shade at all. Do this the day after the Sassi, not before, because the churches only make sense once you have seen what the same stone became.

Via Sette Dolori 10, Matera, Basilicata, 75100, Italy

NO OPENING TIME HERE WAS CHECKED, and the plateau has none: it is open country with marked tracks, no gate and no ticket, so daylight and weather are the constraint. The unlocked rock churches are the same and are unlit. GUIDED WALKS to the frescoed churches run by arrangement with operators in Matera. The Crypt of Original Sin is a separate ticketed site on TIMED VISITS that must be booked ahead. The Tibetan footbridge has been closed for long periods. Confirm the crypt and the bridge.

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