Altamura and Matera: bread and stone
Description
A tour to discover two beautiful cities un on the hills of Murgia: Altamura (with its renowned bread and the cathedral built by the Swabian Emperor Frederick II) and Matera (with its Sassi declared, in 1993, Unesco world heritage site and, in 2014, European Capital of Culture for 2019 ).
In Altamura we will visit the historic city center and its cathedral (a beautiful example of Apulian Romanesque style), some other churches (S. Nicola dei Greci, S. Chiara, etc.), some aristocratic palaces (Balzo, Calderoni Sabini, etc.), the clock tower, the old gates and walls of the city. We will enjoy the walking among the picturesque “claustri”, a typical kind of courtyard coming from the Arab and Greek culture. We will taste the traditional PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) bread and focaccia of Altamura baked in an 50 sq. m. wide brick oak wood fired oven built in 1380, the centuries old recipes of the artisanal pastry workshop of St. Clare Monastery, the green walnut liqueur Don Peppe.
The tour of Matera will start with the upper part of the city with the Apulian-Romanesque stlyle cathedral, the Sedile square, the Piano district with its baroque style palaces and churches (such as the Purgatorio one), Vittorio Veneto square, the medieval church of St. John the Baptist. From there we will descent to the Sassi (Caveoso and Barisano) to enjoy this astonishing atmosphere made of rupestrian churches and houses partly carved in the calcareous stone and partly built with the blocks extracted from the rock. We will visit one (or some) of the most interesting rupestrian churches, we will enjoy the view of the canyon on the border of the panoramic street and we will see what a real peasant house was like before of the abandon after the Second World War thanks to the visit of a typical cave dwelling with the original furniture and tools.
Some idea for changes to the itinerary
It’s also possible to change the itinerary with a visit to the Palombaro Lungo (an itinerary on a huge and impressive water cistern), a stop at the belvedere to enjoy the breathtaking view of the skyline of this magic, unique town of stone that has been chosen as natural set for several movies (such as Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ”).