After playing host for a very full on week, I felt the need to get a little space from Casa Giulia. Laura had always wanted to go to the ancient city of Matera, and Giulia was kind enough to lend us her car for a few days, so Sunday afternoon the two of us set out on a little road trip adventure.
Matera is one of the oldest, continuously inhabited cities on earth, with evidence of human activity from the Paleolithic era. It’s not hard to imagine — one looks out from the city of stacked houses and buildings toward the hillside on the other side of the ravine, and it is pockmarked with hundreds of caves that really look quite cozy.
Upon arrival, Laura and I bundled up and went out to see the city. Neither of us are big planners, so we sauntered around and looked at the beautiful views of the city as the sun set and the lights came on. As it cooled off, I realized that I haven’t been in weather under 65 degrees in months, and am woefully unprepared for any kind of cold, so put warm clothes shopping on my to do list.
We meandered through the ancient streets of the old neighborhood, which felt like an ancient middle eastern city (save all the churches), with roofs of houses creating the terrace for the house above it, square windows and narrow alley ways. I guess at some point Matera was inhabited by Byzantines and Ottomans and basically everyone. Apparently in the 1950’s, the living conditions in the old neighborhood were so squalid that the Italian government evicted everyone and cleaned up the city. They did a nice job, and expanded the city.
After visiting the lower neighborhood, we got dinner and walked around the upper, more modern part of Matera. We both figured it would be like most ancient walled cities, with a nice old town and not much else, but the other neighborhoods of Matera were surprisingly modern and diverse. We found what was the closest thing to a gay bar — LGBTQ friendly — as they call it, had a drink, and called it a night.
Fountain of amore and the rock church in the background
The next day we set off early for sight seeing. But again, as neither of us are planners, we kind of walked around in mildly hung over circles, until tourist attractions started to open. We went into a church that was carved completely out of a stone mountain, the first evidence of its existence being in 1036. The walls had frescoes of saints painted in the 11th century, but really the stunning nature of the church was that it was truly part of the mountain.
Super cool ancient cistern
After the church, we visited the main cistern of the city, which was very gratifying because I’ve been trying to get into a cistern since before I arrived in Naples, and could finally check one off the list. That, and I’m always interested in how cities maintained their water and other natural resources.
It’s not thaaat far to all those tiny little caves, right?
By this time, Laura and I felt pretty good about our visit to Matera, but we agreed that we needed to go inside one of those old ass caves before we left. We drove to the other side of the ravine and walked in the general direction of the caves, which ended up being a lot farther than we realized. On the trail we met hikers with poles, hiking shoes, water, and all the other things you should bring on a hike, so we were a bit unprepared. Yet, we found the caves, including another church carved into the hillside, allegedly containing the eyeballs of the patron saint of eyesight. Super cool, kinda spooky. After our much longer than anticipated hike, we felt like we had really seen (and felt) Matera, so we got back in the car headed south.
We decided to stop in Taranto on the way back to Casa Giulia, because it’s one of the bigger cities in Puglia, so why not. We walked around the old city, complete with Ancient Greek ruins of the temple of Poseidon. In spite of the fact that Taranto is a port city with a sparkly blue bay, the city is a little darker and edgier than Lecce or other towns in the area. I liked it - it felt real and livable.
Actually, Laura and I had probably our most authentic Italian experience in Taranto, that crisp fall afternoon. Naturally, around lunch time we were hungry for lunch, so we stopped at a little cafe on a cute street. Laura asked if we could sit outside and the server said yes, but sit on this side of the building because a funeral procession was going to go by.
We ordered our food and chatted while we waited for our food, as people do. We heard the funeral procession getting closer, as the music and wails got louder. Right before the 10 piece band playing New Orleans esque funeral music crossed our alleyway, our server came out and dropped our steaming bowls of pasta on the table, quickly skirted the procession and disappeared. Laura and I looked at each other. You can’t exactly start eating your hot, delicious pasta while people are marching by, sobbing and wailing.
It was so uncomfortable that I started to giggle. And then the pallbearers carrying the casket walked by and I kind of lost it. I know it’s inappropriate to exploit someone’s grief, but the whole scene was so perfectly Italian that I somewhat composed myself and snapped a quick selfie. Note the coffin in the background. In spite of the awkward situation, after the procession passed, Laura and I both enjoyed our pastas immensely.
Once again, as the sun sank low in the sky, we headed south through olive and almond orchards, vineyards that have passed their prime for the year, toward a sun that has begun to set a little farther south in the sky. The days are still warm, but the nights are cool and the mornings are chilly. The sun has more of a golden glow to it, even in the middle of the day, and the sea has already cooled down a few degrees. September has absolutely flown by, and I can’t believe I only have just over a week left here. It’s easy to get a little melancholy, but I want to continue to enjoy my precious time here, finish my work stay strong, and get excited for the final month of my adventures.
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