The sellers of bread, hams, cheeses, and liquorice are from the countryside near Lecce

A very enjoyable day celebrating our Wedding Anniversary is completed with another excellent meal at the Osteria where we consume large quantities spaghetti and sea bass.

 

May 31st: after three nights at Lecce, we drive back towards Naples via Matera -

a town where inhabitants lived a troglodyte existence until the 1960s, in dwellings on the side of a ravine

Our route to Matera is via Laterza where we try to find a good view of its ravine, but only find an unimpressive one as it rains slightly. We do find a bar where we get coffee before driving on to Matera to explore its amazing location on the side of the Sasso Cavaseo ravine. Our visit to Matera is cut short by a spectacular downpour that floods the streets and roads to the extent of making them dangerous. We therefore return to Matera the following morning after a night at Borgo Venusovio.

 

Steep pathways connect the cave dwellings (sassi) and churches that have been dug out of the ravine in tiers. Our exploration of this fascinating site involves the climbing of many of the steep stairways and accessing the Cathedral and a number of churches including St Pietro Caveoso; Madonna de Idris; Convincio di St Antonio (a complex of four adjacent churches whose crypts were later used as water cisterns); St Lucia Alle Malve; and the Rupestrian Church of San Pietro. This latter church has a large number of colourful frescoes and it is possible to explore the chambers and tunnels below the main floor of the church

One of the cave dwellings is shown furnished as it would have been in the 1960s - this one having been last occupied in 1963

Matera's Cathedral is built on  the ridge that forms the highest point of the sassi

Rupestrian Church of San Pietro