Matera - It’s Ok to Get Lost

Our day started with sunrise at 35,000 feet - on our way to Italy's heel and the region of Puglia. Situated on the east side of Italy, it is known for its whitewashed hilltop villages, long Mediterranean coastline, and a gentler pace of life without the crushing crowds.

It never occurred to me to fly within Italy, until I realized that a train or car from Bologna to Bari would take all day and cost a whole lot more than our no-frills flight on Ryan Air. Having listened to the rain come down all night, it was nice to be leaving that behind and heading towards the sunshine and 20 degree warmer weather.

As usual, I ignored the "Greg's Rules of Traveling" and rented a car. Helloooo… how the heck else do you get to the world's best treasures?! We drove one hour straight to the poster child of Puglia: Alberobello. If you've heard of Puglia then likely you know the town with the white conical little huts called trulli. If you haven't heard of it, then before you visit make sure you manage your expectation level. It takes an hour to walk the loop. If your goal is to take pictures, arrive absolutely no later than 9:30am (during shoulder season). By no means spend the night here. If you come after 10:30am, expect intense crowds packed into the small village. It is worth a visit if you set your expectations correctly.

We arrived early enough to run around taking pictures for an hour with no people. Then we retraced our steps, casually strolling around and enjoying a late cappuccino.

Trulli, Alberobello's iconic cone-shaped stone dwellings, are the sole reason people come to visit

The white symbols on the roofs ward off demons and bring good luck

This same location that was empty at 9:50am starts getting a lot more crowded by 10:50am

To avoid paying property taxes to the King, in the 1500s the feudal lord ordered the local peasants to build their homes without mortar so that they could quickly be taken down.

While walking around, you don't realize there are actually over 1,000 trulli. Catching a view from Belvedere Santa Lucia is the perfect place to understand how many trulli really make up Alberobello!

Since 'beaching' is largely the main thing to do in Puglia, and October doesn't make for the best beach weather, we actually are splitting our visit with a bordering region's secret: Matera. By 12:30pm we were checking into our hotel, Le Origini, within Matera's Sassi. "The Sassi" in Matera are the two neighborhoods of stone dwellings in the ancient town.

The view from our room and patio is one of the best in Matera

First occupied 9,000 years ago, Matera is one of the oldest cities in the world and recognized by UNESCO for being an outstanding example of a cave-dwelling settlement.  They dug in, quite literally, and never left.

Matera's rock terrain forms natural caves. Like Swiss cheese, the Sassi are laced with tunnels and caverns. What you see on the surface is only 30%; the other 70% is hidden.

Our hotel told us it's ok to get lost. "We haven't had to send any helicopters out for anyone yet," they joked. We took their advice, half wandering around and half aiming for the viewpoints. Wandering was easier because a flat map wasn't really helping navigate the winding stairs and alleys that make Matera a unique and captivating destination.

To spend a day in the rolling hillside of Matera is to wind through alleys, under archways, up lots of staircases, and along pathways over cave roofs. Although there is no indication, you're actually climbing all over homes piled one on top of the other.

I overheard a woman command her husband, who was clearly in exploration mode, "I really don't want to get lost." I can't blame her - wandering around here can be exhausting! But I found the opportunity, challenges, and rewards exhilarating.

I didn't realize until I started walking around Matera that it is spread across two hills.  "It's all the same view," claimed Greg, not differentiating the changing perspective each viewpoint had to offer.

Here is another viewpoint - of the two landmark churches: San Pietro Caveoso and Santa Maria de Iris

Now a hidden gem that you must add to your travel list, it wasn't so long ago that Matera was the shame of Italy. In the 1950s, the government actually evacuated over 16,000 residents out of the caves due to their poor living conditions, where poverty and malaria were rife. Since today's charm makes it difficult to fully comprehend and even reading about it online doesn't completely incapsulate the atrocity, I highly recommend you start with the poignant 25-minute video at Casa Noha. You'll learn that when thousands of people lived in the caves of the Sassi, it was literally killing them. The infant mortality rate was a staggering 44.3%. They were stuffing their feces behind their beds and suffocating in the dark, airless shafts. Ok, maybe you don't need to see the movie.

To get an idea of the extensive underground, you can visit Palombaro Longo, the ancient network of underground cisterns below the central piazza that sustained Matera. The sign warns not to spend more than 15 minutes underground.

A popular place for a drink with a view is Terrazza Cavaliere, teetering over the Sassi.  Or go here to 5 Lire nextdoor for the same view at a fraction of the price.  

For dinner we finally had pizza. Greg was getting a little concerned that we hadn't had it yet. It was good but I can't tell you where we went (very close to our hotel) because they'll get in trouble from the dumb owner for giving us a free pizza plate - finally after 12 years of looking for one! I left them a very good review (and didn't mention the plate). Unfortunately it wasn't all good … Greg got size envy and decided he needs a bigger wood-burning pizza oven than the 900 lb one we just installed. Great.