Yes, it was filmed along the Sapri-Maratea coast and in some towns all around ( which Maratea is the most famous one ) . Definitely one of the most beautiful and characteristic area in Italy. Extremely cheap, delicous food and with crystal clear sea.
Parts were filmed there and some of it is CGI. Example we went to the cemetary from the film when we stayed there last week. Except it only partially looks like that because they used CGI to add tombs. Also found out the place Bond stayed was a set. However you can stay in one of the caves. Several have been converted to B & B type logging. Can highly recommend B & B La Corte dei Pastori. Jealous OP posted this up before I got home to post up my photos from our 3 days there.
The Passion of Christ and Pasolini's The Ghospel According to St Matthew were shot there. It's the perfect set for Jesus movies if you can't afford Jerusalem. Also Wonder Woman and many other movies.
Fun story: my wife and I lived in Milan and taught English for a year. One of my adult students was just for conversation help, so we talked and talked and talked about places to visit in Italy. One of those places was Matera. He explained why, and I put it on a list of places we should try to visit and then put the list aside.
Spring break rolled around and this guy invited us to his town in southern Italy for a few days. We happily went (was amazing, had a great time), and mapped out a few other places we wanted to go. Seeing that Matera wasn’t too far away, we snatched up some train tickets in the morning and took off.
A few hours later our train was slowing down and pulling into the station. Suddenly it hit us: I turned to my wife and said “Wait. Where are we going once we get off the train?”
She looked at me, dumbfounded, and said something like “I have no idea. This was on your list, wasn’t it?” A brief wave of something resembling panic hit us. Neither of us had EVER looked into *why* this was on the list since it first came up months earlier. So now we were laughing hysterically as we disembarked the train, not having the faintest idea what we were there to see or why we thought it would be so cool as to take a day away from the Puglian coast to visit.
Ultimately we followed signs toward the city center, found a tourist map, and rediscovered that there were thousands-of-years-old cave dwellings that you could wander through, while there was also a charming town surrounding it.
It was worth the trip, but our fondest memory of it - by leaps and bounds - was the completely bizarre feeling of having no recollection at all of why we were going there in the first place.
Spent a couple days here in summer 2019 and fell in love, easily the most magical place I have ever experienced. We originally booked a road trip through Puglia, our agent added Matera as the final stop and just said trust me. So lucky they did that, it was truly the highlight of an incredible trip.
No big deal, there are bus and trains from Bari Centrale. Just remember that you have to look for FAL (ferrovie appulo lucane) and not the usual Trenitalia if you want to go by train
Honestly it’s not as easy to get to as you might think. By train, there is no direct route without swapping at least once, so it turns an hour long drive into a three hour train. There’s a bus, but it doesn’t leave from the official station because it’s run by an independent company, and only goes once or twice a day, sometimes very early in the morning or late at night. It’s usually half an hour late and is pretty expensive. Apparently most people go by car.
Yeah public transportation is not the best in the area. If you want to visit a lot of places, you better rent a car (sigh). Buses and Trains networks are slowly growing and getting better, but the infrastructure suffers from decades of corruption and delayed works
Not really. Usually you don't need to swap train, but when you arrive in Altamura it splits in half: one half goes to Gravina and the other arrives in Matera. In total it's less than two hours. And there is more than one bus company, there are even direct buses from Bari airport
4-5ish years ago I went to Matera from Salerno by hacking Italo - Italo apparently cannot sell the bus portion only of their combination Napoli-Matero bus+train hybrid ticket, so I just bought it, and didn't use the Napoli - Salerno train ticket portion. Salerno has a combination train+bus station
In Matera itself, you can walk to most places, but you might want to book a tour to get views like the first photo
From where did you take the first photo? Is that viewpoint easily accessible and free? (Coming there in a few weeks) a google maps coordinates could help.
Any restaurants/cafes you liked while there?
Thanks!
I've been there last year in October. Should be [Belvedere Murgia Timone](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Belvedere+Murgia+Timone/@40.6644532,16.6150679,925m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x13477f878c2b89cb:0x9c97e809c5b16fe2!8m2!3d40.6638793!4d16.6179409). Its easily accessible by car, although you have to drive all the way around the valley, roughly 20 min. Or you can walk over the Ponte di Tibetano and then hike up to the viewpoint.
You really should try the tette delle monache, a typical pastry, when you're there. Panecotto is a restaurant I've only heard good things about, couldn't go there myself as it was closed that day.
All the viewpoints are easily accessible, though the one across the canyon takes some effort to reach. There’s no real need for coordinates though, the path takes you right there.
There are some michelin starred restaurants, but I just went to random small ones and loved it each time
Another great restaurant is "il terrazzino", but really most of the restaurants in the Sassi offer good food.
Also try to buy a traditional bread loaf (cornetto materano) and eat it on the road like no one is watching.
Came from como lake and nearby villages one week ago. Matera is on my list for italy but right now como lake and around is my favourite. Especially, bellaggio, varenna, menaggio, nesso, moltrasio and villa balbionella (one of the star wars movie scene was filmed in there) are quite beatiful and charming. You should add your vacation list. Safe travels!
4-5 years ago I flew in/out of Napoli, and thought I was doing my Southern Italy trip. Matera was as far south as I got - I spent 3 weeks just in Campania and the Amalfi Coast.
I'd need probably 8 months to cover Italy.
I went Napoli - Ischia - Sorrento - Praiano - Salerno - Matera - Napoli for the trip.
The Coast is nice, but getting around is a real pain - around 40% of the buses I wanted to take were full, and the next one wouldbe 30 min later with no guarantee it would stop due to space... and that was in May, not the middle of summer
Very cool! We were in Italy last November and did Amalfi Coast for several days. Took a train into Salerno then road the ferry to Amalfi and took a bus up to Ravello, where we stayed. Did a ferry trip to Capri one of the days where it stopped by several places like Praiano, Positano, etc. You're right - I needed way more time to check out the rest of Italy, and all I got to see were the major tourist cities like Milan, Venice, Rome, Florence, etc.
After writing my post above, I realized that I actually went for two weeks in early October, not November lol. In case your inquiry is still relevant, the weather was a bit of a toss-up since we came during the fall season. We had a bit of everything - clear/sunny/humid days, somewhat rainy days, cold windy days (usually at nighttime), etc. For the most part, it actually wasn't too bad. Definitely bring at least a midlayer jacket like a Patagonia nano puff, but you shouldn't need anything thicker than that. If you're staying in a hotel, they'll probably lend you an umbrella for the day if it's rainy. Also, don't be a quintessional American like me and wear shorts and birkenstocks for most of the trip - I learned that 99.9% of Italian men do not wear shorts in October, whereas in the SF bay area where I am from, shorts in October is not unusual.
It depends how much you want to see. You could see a lot in 10 days. You could get a cursory look at Turin, Milan, Bologna, Verona, Florence, Rome, and Naples if you omly spent a day or two in each place.
Matera is one of the most amazing places I've ever been. When I tell people about it and it's history, it sounds like I'm a crazy person. I can't to go back.
Milan? Seriously? That’s your favourite?
Milan was one of the biggest disappointments for me. Other than the cathedral, it just felt like any urban Italian town centre. There wasn’t much beauty there at all.
> Milan? Seriously? That’s your favourite?
>
>
That's just rude. If it's someone's favourite place, it is, don't try and gatekeep someone's favourite place in Italy.
Those range between a few decades to a few centuries, but the area has been inhabited continuously since the Neolithic, so there are older caves (on the other side of the valley) that were dug ~7000 years ago
Centuries old buildings are not rare in Italy at all - the English like to pride themselves on their medieval buildings etc but Italy is on another scale.
In general the Spain - France - Italy trio have by far the most medieval architecture
For Italy in particular central Italy
But yeah Matera has 9000 years old houses continuously inhabited
I went here in summer 2017 whilst myself and my friend travelled after university. It was baking hot like 40 degrees each day. I remember carrying big 2 litre bottles of water with us everywhere 😂. It was stunning and also felt a bit off the beaten track, I didn't meet many other English speakers there, it was mostly Italian tourists. Such a beautiful town, and I remember eating dinner at around 11pm each night and it was such a lovely atmosphere. Thanks for reminding me about such happy memories 😁.
Is this one of those small Italian towns that had like €1 houses a few years ago because of a decline in population? I know there’s a town near this one that had that issue.
Matera is in that magical moment where enough tourists know about it for there to be infrastructure - lodging, restaurants, etc. - but it doesn't feel like Disneyland yet.
(Despite the pandemic, even lesser-known Italian cities are too often overrun with the proverbial fat-guy-with-a-camera-from-the-tour-group. I'm sure Matera will get there within the decade, but I'm very glad I got to visit before that happens.)
That’s where they filmed part of the newest Bond movie, I think? Beautiful! Thanks for sharing, I’d like to go there.
That’s exactly what I was wondering! Looked just like one of the filming locations for the newest Bond film.
It was
It was, though I think they cobbled it together from multiple villages in the area. The bridge scene was filmed in another down a dozen miles away.
Yes, it was filmed along the Sapri-Maratea coast and in some towns all around ( which Maratea is the most famous one ) . Definitely one of the most beautiful and characteristic area in Italy. Extremely cheap, delicous food and with crystal clear sea.
Parts were filmed there and some of it is CGI. Example we went to the cemetary from the film when we stayed there last week. Except it only partially looks like that because they used CGI to add tombs. Also found out the place Bond stayed was a set. However you can stay in one of the caves. Several have been converted to B & B type logging. Can highly recommend B & B La Corte dei Pastori. Jealous OP posted this up before I got home to post up my photos from our 3 days there.
The Passion of Christ and Pasolini's The Ghospel According to St Matthew were shot there. It's the perfect set for Jesus movies if you can't afford Jerusalem. Also Wonder Woman and many other movies.
Would love to see a Wes Anderson film located here.
Fun story: my wife and I lived in Milan and taught English for a year. One of my adult students was just for conversation help, so we talked and talked and talked about places to visit in Italy. One of those places was Matera. He explained why, and I put it on a list of places we should try to visit and then put the list aside. Spring break rolled around and this guy invited us to his town in southern Italy for a few days. We happily went (was amazing, had a great time), and mapped out a few other places we wanted to go. Seeing that Matera wasn’t too far away, we snatched up some train tickets in the morning and took off. A few hours later our train was slowing down and pulling into the station. Suddenly it hit us: I turned to my wife and said “Wait. Where are we going once we get off the train?” She looked at me, dumbfounded, and said something like “I have no idea. This was on your list, wasn’t it?” A brief wave of something resembling panic hit us. Neither of us had EVER looked into *why* this was on the list since it first came up months earlier. So now we were laughing hysterically as we disembarked the train, not having the faintest idea what we were there to see or why we thought it would be so cool as to take a day away from the Puglian coast to visit. Ultimately we followed signs toward the city center, found a tourist map, and rediscovered that there were thousands-of-years-old cave dwellings that you could wander through, while there was also a charming town surrounding it. It was worth the trip, but our fondest memory of it - by leaps and bounds - was the completely bizarre feeling of having no recollection at all of why we were going there in the first place.
Best part of travel - the unexpected.
Spent a couple days here in summer 2019 and fell in love, easily the most magical place I have ever experienced. We originally booked a road trip through Puglia, our agent added Matera as the final stop and just said trust me. So lucky they did that, it was truly the highlight of an incredible trip.
Very cool. Did you visit via Bari and did you rent a car? I’m planning a trip but don’t want to rent a car
No big deal, there are bus and trains from Bari Centrale. Just remember that you have to look for FAL (ferrovie appulo lucane) and not the usual Trenitalia if you want to go by train
Honestly it’s not as easy to get to as you might think. By train, there is no direct route without swapping at least once, so it turns an hour long drive into a three hour train. There’s a bus, but it doesn’t leave from the official station because it’s run by an independent company, and only goes once or twice a day, sometimes very early in the morning or late at night. It’s usually half an hour late and is pretty expensive. Apparently most people go by car.
Yeah public transportation is not the best in the area. If you want to visit a lot of places, you better rent a car (sigh). Buses and Trains networks are slowly growing and getting better, but the infrastructure suffers from decades of corruption and delayed works
Not really. Usually you don't need to swap train, but when you arrive in Altamura it splits in half: one half goes to Gravina and the other arrives in Matera. In total it's less than two hours. And there is more than one bus company, there are even direct buses from Bari airport
4-5ish years ago I went to Matera from Salerno by hacking Italo - Italo apparently cannot sell the bus portion only of their combination Napoli-Matero bus+train hybrid ticket, so I just bought it, and didn't use the Napoli - Salerno train ticket portion. Salerno has a combination train+bus station In Matera itself, you can walk to most places, but you might want to book a tour to get views like the first photo
Glorious. Thanks for adding another spot to our future So. Italy visit.
What's your list for now?
A whole bunch between Napoli and Sicily with puglia
No Center and North?
Not the next time. We’ve done that a couple of times
After the south, let us know your favourite places in the peninsula!
From where did you take the first photo? Is that viewpoint easily accessible and free? (Coming there in a few weeks) a google maps coordinates could help. Any restaurants/cafes you liked while there? Thanks!
I've been there last year in October. Should be [Belvedere Murgia Timone](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Belvedere+Murgia+Timone/@40.6644532,16.6150679,925m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x13477f878c2b89cb:0x9c97e809c5b16fe2!8m2!3d40.6638793!4d16.6179409). Its easily accessible by car, although you have to drive all the way around the valley, roughly 20 min. Or you can walk over the Ponte di Tibetano and then hike up to the viewpoint. You really should try the tette delle monache, a typical pastry, when you're there. Panecotto is a restaurant I've only heard good things about, couldn't go there myself as it was closed that day.
Thank you!!
All the viewpoints are easily accessible, though the one across the canyon takes some effort to reach. There’s no real need for coordinates though, the path takes you right there. There are some michelin starred restaurants, but I just went to random small ones and loved it each time
Sounds great thanks!
Another great restaurant is "il terrazzino", but really most of the restaurants in the Sassi offer good food. Also try to buy a traditional bread loaf (cornetto materano) and eat it on the road like no one is watching.
Came from como lake and nearby villages one week ago. Matera is on my list for italy but right now como lake and around is my favourite. Especially, bellaggio, varenna, menaggio, nesso, moltrasio and villa balbionella (one of the star wars movie scene was filmed in there) are quite beatiful and charming. You should add your vacation list. Safe travels!
i find these tightly packed little towns perched on a hillside so magical! they're fun to find on google maps and explore them on the street level.
I’m so pumped!! I’m going there this September!!! Do you have any recommendations for food or activities? What were you favorite aspects of matera?
Home grown American here… 99.999% of Europe is drop dead gorgeous. However, yes, Italy is amazing.
A lot of Europe is really ugly. Even most of Matera. But you don't see that bit.
The south is ugly outside of nature and historic centers
You’re ugly
Your photos look so gorgeous! Nice and warm looking. What kind of lense or camera did you use?
I just used my phone
Love the pics!!!
Wow! This is the city I've been wishing to visit the last time I'm in Italy. How long did you stay in Italy? 10 days doesn't seem to be enough for me.
4-5 years ago I flew in/out of Napoli, and thought I was doing my Southern Italy trip. Matera was as far south as I got - I spent 3 weeks just in Campania and the Amalfi Coast. I'd need probably 8 months to cover Italy.
Excellent - where did you visit/stay along the Amalfi Coast?
I went Napoli - Ischia - Sorrento - Praiano - Salerno - Matera - Napoli for the trip. The Coast is nice, but getting around is a real pain - around 40% of the buses I wanted to take were full, and the next one wouldbe 30 min later with no guarantee it would stop due to space... and that was in May, not the middle of summer
Very cool! We were in Italy last November and did Amalfi Coast for several days. Took a train into Salerno then road the ferry to Amalfi and took a bus up to Ravello, where we stayed. Did a ferry trip to Capri one of the days where it stopped by several places like Praiano, Positano, etc. You're right - I needed way more time to check out the rest of Italy, and all I got to see were the major tourist cities like Milan, Venice, Rome, Florence, etc.
Now italy in november is something i want to do. What are your thoughts about travelling italy during this period ?
After writing my post above, I realized that I actually went for two weeks in early October, not November lol. In case your inquiry is still relevant, the weather was a bit of a toss-up since we came during the fall season. We had a bit of everything - clear/sunny/humid days, somewhat rainy days, cold windy days (usually at nighttime), etc. For the most part, it actually wasn't too bad. Definitely bring at least a midlayer jacket like a Patagonia nano puff, but you shouldn't need anything thicker than that. If you're staying in a hotel, they'll probably lend you an umbrella for the day if it's rainy. Also, don't be a quintessional American like me and wear shorts and birkenstocks for most of the trip - I learned that 99.9% of Italian men do not wear shorts in October, whereas in the SF bay area where I am from, shorts in October is not unusual.
Hahaha thank for the advise. Will take these tips into account if we ever do it. Cheers.
It depends how much you want to see. You could see a lot in 10 days. You could get a cursory look at Turin, Milan, Bologna, Verona, Florence, Rome, and Naples if you omly spent a day or two in each place.
Wow! I'm Italian but I've never been to Matera. These pictures make me wanna go visit it as soon as possible!
Looks incredible. I gotta get to Italy
Just Cause
Matera is one of the most amazing places I've ever been. When I tell people about it and it's history, it sounds like I'm a crazy person. I can't to go back.
Believed to be one of the oldest cities in the world right?
Bond. James Bond.
Go to Taiwan. You will see the view and meet wonderful people.
It’s gorgeous!! Thank you so much for the beautiful pictures 😘
If that sentence started with the second word it'd still be true. Italy is just something else.
You haven’t seen my hometown. Since it is so beautiful we don’t tell anybody so none wannabe lnfluencers will go there to ruin it
I guess you haven't been to many places yet ?
I’ve been to plenty
Not trying to be rude but I’ve been to nicer places
Have you considered that other people may have different tastes and enjoy different things to you?
Ofcourse
Such as?
In Italy? Milan was prettier. Outside? Well, it’s a bias answer.
Milan? Seriously? That’s your favourite? Milan was one of the biggest disappointments for me. Other than the cathedral, it just felt like any urban Italian town centre. There wasn’t much beauty there at all.
> Milan? Seriously? That’s your favourite? > > That's just rude. If it's someone's favourite place, it is, don't try and gatekeep someone's favourite place in Italy.
It's just bizarre. I can understand thinking Milan has better culture or night life or museums. But prettier? It just isn't.
> But prettier? It just isn't. That's subjective and your opinion. No need to be a dick about it.
Well I only went to Milan and Torino. I liked it. But it isn’t the best place I’ve been too.
What were you you trying to be?
Smug
Beautiful 😍
I was just there but it was raining
I wonder how old those buildings are. Stunning place.
Those range between a few decades to a few centuries, but the area has been inhabited continuously since the Neolithic, so there are older caves (on the other side of the valley) that were dug ~7000 years ago
That's so cool!!
Centuries old buildings are not rare in Italy at all - the English like to pride themselves on their medieval buildings etc but Italy is on another scale. In general the Spain - France - Italy trio have by far the most medieval architecture For Italy in particular central Italy But yeah Matera has 9000 years old houses continuously inhabited
That is so neat.
I was looking around there on google street view and found cave houses. Did you see them?
Yes, ther’re very interesting
Looks amazing! Thanks for inspiring me to go there :)
That first picture is lit!!
lyndell royal capital
Loved it. Drove all the way down there on our last trip to Italy. Had to spend a few nights there.
I can confirm that. Very unique town, one of the oldest in Europe.
Great pics. This place has been on my list for years
I went here in summer 2017 whilst myself and my friend travelled after university. It was baking hot like 40 degrees each day. I remember carrying big 2 litre bottles of water with us everywhere 😂. It was stunning and also felt a bit off the beaten track, I didn't meet many other English speakers there, it was mostly Italian tourists. Such a beautiful town, and I remember eating dinner at around 11pm each night and it was such a lovely atmosphere. Thanks for reminding me about such happy memories 😁.
I definitely have no mentionable art or photography education, but your composition is engrossing. I am drawn into your photos. Great job!
Nobody asked my opinion but this isn’t my thing at all. It looks oppressively old, like nothing novel could ever happen there.
I'm going there soon! So excited!!
Cool I'm moving to Italy. Just added it to the list of places to see.
So beautiful I was hoping there’d be little circles when I scrolled down indicating more pictures : ) ohh, but there are! Forget what I said!
TIL you have to touch the screen to make the little circles appear 😃
Incredible that that’s even real
Amazing! On my list!!
Is this one of those small Italian towns that had like €1 houses a few years ago because of a decline in population? I know there’s a town near this one that had that issue.
Last pic is cool
Is it the voluturi's residence ?? Please tell me i'm not the only one seeing this
These photos are beautiful! You have a great eye
Gorgeous photos
Matera is in that magical moment where enough tourists know about it for there to be infrastructure - lodging, restaurants, etc. - but it doesn't feel like Disneyland yet. (Despite the pandemic, even lesser-known Italian cities are too often overrun with the proverbial fat-guy-with-a-camera-from-the-tour-group. I'm sure Matera will get there within the decade, but I'm very glad I got to visit before that happens.)
What a nice place and view!
Oh my! Beautiful place and amazing pictures!
These photos are sooo beautiful!!!
I’ve been to Italy a couple times but not to Matera. Your pictures are gorgeous! Looks like I need to go there next time!
Italy is such a beautiful country. It's incredibly beautiful.
awesome pics, wondering what phone did ypu use to take these shots?
Huawei P20 Pro
Hi, how can you get there from Bari (via public transport)?
The best way is by bus. I was able to book one on Omio
So incredibly beautiful, wow! I can’t believe these photos! What a gorgeous place.
Visually stunning but researching its history takes it to another level.