From the city of Bari, it is easy to visit both Matera and Alberobello. I like having a guide at historical sites, so I searched online and got lucky with a wonderful guide through "Tours by Locals". Giorgio met me at my hotel and we proceeded first to Matera, which is about an hour away. En route, I learned about the history of Bari, which includes complicated Mafia connections. The south of Italy does not have the wealth and prestige as the north, and life was/is run a bit differently!
Matera is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, one of the many in Italy. It is in the region of Basilicata, next to Puglia. You may recall that in 2019, Matera was named the European Cultural Capital. And years before that, it was the setting of Mel Gibson's movie, "The Passion of Christ". Matera is an area of "Sassi" or cave dwellings. The oldest dwellings are eight thousand years old, opposite the more "modern" dwellings. They are divided by a ravine, which was once a river.
The Sassi of Matera are regarded as "one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world." The area was occupied by many different groups. By the 1800's, Matera had extreme poverty, poor sanitation and disease. In the 1950's, it was called "the shame of Italy" and the townspeople were forced to evacuate to modern housing in the "new" Matera. For years, the dwellings were abandoned until the 1980's when the town became a historical tourist attraction. Now, there are hotels, restaurants, shops and artist studios.
There are several empty caves that are open to visitors. One has been reconstructed to show what life might have looked like when the caves were inhabited. There was a small kitchen and table. Animals were housed inside the cave to provide heat. The matrimonial bed has the toilet nearby and a loft above for children. We can imagine that there was no privacy at all!!
After lunch in the modern section of Matera, we got back on the road to reach Alberobello. The guide pointed out the change in the landscape when we crossed from Basilicata into Puglia. The olive groves returned in abundance.
Alberobello is the home of the famous "trulli" and is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We arrived first into the inhabited area of Alberobello. My guide, Giorgio, stopped to say hello to a family living in a trullo. The wife of the couple showed me her garden. Outside her door she had a table with fresh figs, at no charge, and I helped myself. Mamma mia- delicioso!
There were trulli that were open to walk through and imagine life in the round home with the conical roof. My guide explained that the original design of the roof was a way to avoid taxes. The workers for the feudal lord Count Acquaviva lived in Alberobello, but he didn't want it to be considered a "town". So, the stones on the roof were not joined with mortar, and when the keystone was removed, the roof would collapse. Thus, the building was no longer considered a house and so the area was not officially a town. This was changed in 1797, and now each roof is permanent.
