The Atlas Obscura Guide To

Matera

3 Cool, Hidden, and Unusual Things to Do in Matera, Italy

Unusual
Attractions
in Matera

Looking out onto la Civita, the city center, from an ancient grotto in Sassi di Matera.

Sassi di Matera

People have been living in the cave houses on this Italian hillside since the Neolithic era.

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Paintings on the walls

The Crypt of the Original Sin

A cave in southern Italy adorned with thousand-year-old Biblical frescoes existed in obscurity until fairly recently.

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Added by pn161220

The sculpture park.

La Palomba

An abandoned quarry hides an open-air gallery of huge sculptures, some made from the rubble of 9/11.

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Added by Malesh

Are we missing something unusual in Matera?

Decrepit structures in the medieval village

Province of Matera, Italy

The Village of Craco

An Italian hillside ghost town.

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Added by serflac

21 MILEs FROM Matera

Atlas Obscura Trips

Rome Behind Locked Doors: Music, Magic, & Secret Crypts

Apr 1—Apr 7, 2019

Explore beneath Rome's streets and behind its locked doors to see a Rome that tourists rarely experience—magical, strange, and filled with legend.

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joparkman wants to go to La Palomba

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