Tour in the Sassi of Matera with Casa Grotta and Rock Church

It is the Sassi area currently renovated with UNESCO funds. Matera has been a World Heritage Site since 1993. From Sasso Barisano it will be possible to admire the facade of the beautiful Cathedral, built in 1270 in Apulian Romanesque style.

The church of the Madonna delle Grazie is located in via del Sasso Caveoso in Matera. The church was formerly dedicated to Sant'Eustachio, as can be seen from the pastoral visit of Mons. Saracen in 1543-1544. The entrance consists of a bell tower. It includes a terracotta bas-relief representing the Madonna and Child. The interior features an imposing baroque altar located near the original iconostasis. In the ceiling there are two sculpted domes and visible apse arches. On the right wall there is a Crucifixion, under which there is a fresco. The figure of Christ is accompanied by two angels and at his feet are: the Mother and John. On another wall St. Francis of Assisi is represented receiving the stigmata. In the ceiling area behind the altar there are coffered panels with ornamental motifs. The corresponding wall, however, shows a painting of Saint Lucia.

Located in the heart of Sasso Caveoso, here you can admire the beautiful Gravina canyon. A unique and exciting scenario but above all rich in history.

In Casa Grotta del Casalnuovo you can experience a real house of the Sassi through its original furniture and the tools of daily use that the family that lived there used in everyday life. What are commonly called Case Grotta are real ethnographic collections, small museums with objects of common use and work from the times when the Sassi were inhabited, before the depopulation occurred in the fifties. Inside, the original rooms and furnishings of the house are reconstructed before the ancient districts were depopulated in the late 1950s.