Basilicata in October - Matera Day 1

The main objective the next morning is shopping, we hope for fish, cheese and abundant fresh and cheap fruit and vegetables, just like in Manfredonia and Bari. But alas, Matera doesn't oblige, the small market in the centre offers little, although the fruit and vegetables we do buy turn out to be good. For the rest, it's back to the Co-op with gritted teeth.

In the afternoon it's time to start visiting Matera properly. We park just before parking starts to be regulated and walk in following the signs to Sasso Caveoso. Our expectations aren't that high, we visited Matera probably over fifteen years ago and we hadn't fallen in love with the place. Also, we expect most things to be closed or pay to view but we soon realise that instead Matera is beautiful and just walking up and down its streets and admiring the views is a pleasure.

After some indecision, we decide to do the ticket for three rock churches which costs 7 euros. The first is Santa Lucia delle Malve, three naves painstakingly hewn out of the rock and some fine frescoes. 

There are only a couple of other people inside, with a guide, so we take our time listening in as long as they are there and then chatting with the custodian about how Matera has changed, vastly for the better, over the last couple of decades. It's only relatively recently that its many treasures have been restored and can be visited by the general public. We don't particularly want to see all three churches included in the ticket on the same day so continue our walk, happening upon San Pietro caveoso which is free to enter with its polyptych dated 1540 showing Peter and Paul and the last supper,  wide columns,wood ceiling, frescoes around the sacrament holder and hands on the baptism font, all of interest.

We continue our walk and peer down at the suspension bridge which we want to try tomorrow to visit the gravina and more rock churches. The second church on the ticket is San Pietro Barisano. 

It's larger and grander than Santa Lucia and is remarkable mainly for the crypt, where the dead bodies of prelates were left to decompose in a sitting position. It's a gory idea and extremely claustrophobic to be down there and I bump my head badly deciding to exit a little too quickly.

Next to the Museo dello scavo there's the Chiesa di San Biagio with a facade of interesting statues outside and two little bell-towers, but the best discovery is the Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista, free to go inside, with a beautiful carved facade and an unexpectedly stupendous interior of gothic columns and carved capitels.

We wander the streets a little more, the wind is fresher now and it's getting dark

so we walk towards the car. On the way, finally, interesting food in Matera, a little van selling dairy products, the young man is friendly and convincing about the products of his Masseria Riccardi so we buy ricotta and caciotta. Supper has just got more interesting.