Practical Information for visiting Matera

Matera is walkable, vertical and hard on the legs.

The Sassi are a network of lanes, stairs and terraces on a steep slope. Nothing is far, but almost everything involves climbing, and the surfaces are worn stone. Sensible shoes are not optional.

The Piano, the upper town, is flat and ordinary, and holds the shops, the bus stops and most of the parking.

Cars cannot enter the Sassi. Park in the Piano and walk down — remembering that you will walk back up.

Local buses connect the Piano with the newer districts, including the ones built for the 1950s clearance.

The Murgia park across the ravine is reached on foot by a path down and across — steep and unshaded — or by road, which is a long way round. A car or a guide helps.

Accessibility in the Sassi is genuinely poor; the Piano is fine.

Matera is reached from Puglia rather than from the rest of Basilicata.

There is no national railway station. The state network does not serve Matera; the private Ferrovie Appulo Lucane run from Bari in around ninety minutes, with reduced service at weekends.

Coaches are the practical option: frequent to Bari, and direct long-distance services to Naples, Rome and the north.

The nearest airport is Bari, about an hour away by bus or car, and it is how most visitors arrive.

Driving is straightforward from Bari on the SS96 and SS99. From western Basilicata or Potenza the roads are slower and more winding than the map suggests.

Coverage for mobile networks is good in the town, patchy down in the gorge and across the Murgia.

Matera is a very safe town and crime is not a meaningful concern for visitors.

The hazards here are almost entirely about terrain. The Sassi are steep, uneven and full of unguarded drops, low doorways and steps worn slick. People are injured by falls far more often than by anything else, and it is much worse in the dark or after rain.

Do not enter unsecured caves or abandoned dwellings. Many are unstable, unlit and not maintained.

In summer the gorge and the Murgia are exposed and shadeless, and walkers regularly underestimate both the heat and the climb back up.

The Murgia paths are rough and poorly signposted in places; do not attempt the crossing late in the day.

Traffic in the Piano is ordinary Italian traffic.

Emergency services are reachable on 112.

No vaccinations or special precautions are needed; standards are those of Italy generally.

The terrain is the main issue. Matera involves a great deal of climbing on irregular stone, and anyone with limited mobility, a heart condition or a pushchair will find the Sassi extremely difficult. The Piano is level and fine.

Heat in July and August is serious in a town with little shade and no sea breeze, and worse if you walk into the gorge.

Cave accommodation is cool and can be damp; in winter check that heating is adequate, because the rock holds cold.

Pharmacies are in the Piano and display the out-of-hours rota.

The Ospedale Madonna delle Grazie is the provincial hospital, with an emergency department.

EHIC and GHIC cards are accepted; travel insurance remains worthwhile.

The single emergency number across Italy is 112, reaching police, ambulance and fire, generally with English-speaking operators.

Other numbers still in use: 113 police, 118 medical, 115 fire.

The Ospedale Madonna delle Grazie in Matera is the provincial hospital and has the nearest emergency department.

There is no foreign consulate here; the nearest consular representation is in Bari, and embassies are in Rome.

Report thefts to the Carabinieri or Polizia di Stato for the report an insurer will require.

An ambulance cannot reach most of the Sassi. If you are staying down in the lanes, know the nearest square or vehicle access point and the name of your alley before you need them — this matters more here than in almost any other Italian town.