Scottish Catholic Observer

THE dark, late night drive from the airport in Bari on Italy’s southeastern coast to the historic former capital of the Basilicata region, Matera, a mere hour away, belied the illuminating experience I was about to have in one of the country’s undiscovered gems.

Upon arrival at the Sant’Angelo Hotel, located in the cobbled street that runs down to the Piazza San Pietro Caveoso, you are given an insight into the rocky landscape that literally shapes and defines the town, with its cavernous interior and rooms dotted around the surrounding hill, that have been beautifully hewn out of the rock. It is a theme that is continued in the fine Baccanti restaurant a mere stone’s throw from the hotel, which serves authentic food and wine from the region to satisfy even the most curious of palettes.

City’s cavernous treasure

These two establishments provided a welcome introduction to the world-renowned Sassi di Matera, cave settlements made up of old houses, rupestrian (rock-hewn) churches with ancient frescoes and now, luxury buildings scattered around a mixture of alleys and staircases, many of which form part of the roofs of the dwellings below. Inhabited for thousands of years and named a UNESCO world heritage site in 1993, the Sassi district is the ancient beating heart of Matera.

That being said, while the light dusting some of these remarkable edifices at night is fit to grace any postcard, the incomparable beauty of the Sassi and the breathtaking views are enriched in the daylight as morning breaks.

Looking out from the balcony as the sun rose was testament to that, with the antiquity of the Sassi exposed in all its glory. Matera is described as one of the oldest towns in the world and there is no doubt it has a very Biblical feel to it. The gravina (valley) that separates the much older, less inhabitable, cavernous dwellings from the more modern Sassi evoked memories of the Kidron Valley in Jerusalem—which I had the pleasure of visiting some years ago—and the houses contained within that holy city. Little wonder then that Matera caught the eye of a plethora of film directors and has been chosen on numerous occasions to act as a double for that city, most notably in Mel Gibson’s cinematic epic The Passion of the Christ, but also The Gospel According to St Matthew (1964), King David (1985) and The Nativity Story (2006).

An eye-opening church

The Christian character of Matera is not merely related to the silver screen, however, as the town boasts many impressive churches, some of which are a window to its religious past. Three such churches are located within easy reach of each other and were with walking distance of the hotel, namely the Church of San Pietro Caveoso and the rock churches of the Madonna de Idris—which sits majestically atop the hill overlooking both the gravina and the Sassi—and Santa Lucia alle Malve. The latter of this trio is particularly impressive, due in no small part to the many frescoes that still adorn its walls. Dating from the 8th century, it is one of the first female monastic Benedictine settlements and operated as such until 1283 when the sisters moved to a new monastery. After that, it operated for a period as a woollen mill and a dwelling place. On the exterior of the building, two small chalices with a pair of eyes on top of them can be seen in the masonry, a carving in honour of St Lucy, the martyr saint from Siracusa in Sicily, who is the patroness of the blind and whom the church is named after. Inside, the structure is composed of a nave and two aisles separated by columns coming out from the excavation: the vault is flat with little domes and Latin crosses. Modifications have taken place to the internal structure in comparison with the original.

The right aisle still has its function of a religious site—and indeed a solemn Mass is still held for St Lucy on her feast day of December 13—but the left aisle was used as habitations and service depots. Its beautiful frescoes are made up of two different styles—both Latin and Eastern—and feature the Virgin Mary and saints such as St Gregory, St John the Baptist, St Peter and St Nicholas. Atop the church’s roof sits a necropolis, discovered after extensive excavation work, which is known as the barbaric churchyard, which led our tour guide Francesco to indulge in a little morbid humour by joking that it is one of the few places in the world where ‘the dead actually lie above the living.’

Wheel of fortune and misfortune

Yet, while many of the city’s jewels may be hidden, others like the cathedral dedicated to Santa Maria della Bruna—Matera’s patron saint—rises from the highest point of the city, the Civitas Hill, and brings with it a towering splendour and photogenicity both during the daytime and as night falls. The Romanesque building, which was completed in 1270, features a tall bell tower and close to its gates can be seen a statue of the city’s patron saint along with statues of Ss Peter and Paul. However, perhaps the cathedral’s most magnificent feature is its central rose window, made up of 16 small columns and representing a ‘wheel of fortune,’ with depictions of St Michael the Archangel crushing the serpent on the top, a rich man to the right, an artisan to the left and a nobleman below, figures signifying the up-and-coming social classes of that period in Italian history.

That theme of fortune—or in this case misfortune—forms part of the story of one of the city’s other major dominant buildings, the Castello Tramontano, situated on the De Montigny Hill. The building of the castle was commissioned by Giovanni Carlo Tramontano (Count of Matera) who was given Matera as his county in October 1497 by the King in Napoli, Ferdinand II of Aragon. The castle though, was never to be completed. The people of Matera viewed the count as an arrogant, tyrannical and merciless ruler during his reign and he demanded substantial taxes from them in order to maintain his luxurious lifestyle. On December 28, 1514 after his latest tax demand, the Materans decided that enough was enough and the following night of December 29, 1514 when the count and the countess went to the cathedral, a group of rebels captured the count after Mass and murdered him in a back street, which has been called the Via Riscatto—meaning ‘deliverance’—ever since. When looking at the Castello Tramontano mirroring the position of the cathedral, its feels almost as if there exists a counterbalance between the spiritual realm of the Church and the lay realm of the despised count.

From poverty to pride

Descending back down the hills into the Sassi, visitors to Matera can experience exactly what life was like for the people by visiting one of the many Casa Grotta (cave dwelling) museums such as Antica Matera, which paint a rather stark picture of the cramped conditions that their inhabitants were forced to endure, even to the extent of sharing living space with livestock.

Unsurprisingly, disease was rife and there was a 50 per cent infant mortality rate. The plight of the people there caught the attention of Italian writer Carlo Levi, who, in his 1945 novel Christ Stopped At Eboli wrote: “In the Sassi caves is concealed the capital of the peasants, its heart hidden in their ancient civilisation. Anyone who sees Matera cannot help but be awe-struck, so expressive and touching is its sorrowful beauty.” This in turn, alerted the new Italian Republic of Prime Minister Alcide De Gasperi, who, due to public outrage, introduced new legislation in 1952 to begin rehousing the Sassi’s 15,000 residents.

The inhabitants were given the choice of receiving new purpose-built housing for free and transferring their Sassi property to the state or purchasing the newly constructed houses and retaining the ownership of their historic cave homes. However, real estate was not the only complication as the process of forced evacuation lasted for years, was never fully completed and meant that the Sassi became, more or less, a ghost town. As a result this unique historic location fell into a state of extreme disrepair and became a real cause for concern, therefore in 1986, to encourage the rehabitation of the area, a new law was passed allowing private ownership of the old buildings on 99-year leases, which is still in place. Then in 1993, UNESCO’s decision to declare the Sassi a world heritage site, gave the area a much-needed boost in terms of attracting tourists. To that end, many renovations have been undertaken meaning that the Sassi now features many extraordinary hotels and fantastic restaurants. Perhaps the most stunning example of the historic region’s marrying of the old and new is the Casa Cava Auditorium, an indoor theatre and performing arts space that was once a former quarry. It felt somewhat wrong to be in the middle of such a wonderful structure, when nothing more than the chatter of visiting tourists resonated around its walls, as I’ve no doubt that when music or drama brings it to life, it would be a truly magnificent feast for the eyes and ears. The restaurants, hotels and this outstanding theatre have breathed new life into the area, but it is the Materans themselves who are rightly at the heart of the Sassi’s revival.

 —Bari Airport can be reached from London Stansted with Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) and from London Gatwick with EasyJet (www.easyjet.com) and British Airways (www.ba.com). Matera is accessible by train—Bari Palese Macchie to Bari Centrale to Matera Centrale—costing £28 and taking approximately 1 hour 45 minutes, while shuttle buses are available by contacting [email protected] beforehand with a journey time of approximately 1 hour.

—http://www.discoverbasilicata.com

—http://www.hotelsantangelosassi.it

—http://www.baccantiristorante.com

—http://www.sassiweb.com/home

PIC: GERARD GOUGH