Blogs from Basilicata, Italy, Europe

The plan for today is to take a trip to the town of Matera which is around 80 kms inland from Monopoli. It seems to come up pretty regularly on lists of must-see places in Italy, so why then do they seem to have made it so hard to get to? Maybe the plan is to stop it getting overrun with tourists? If that’s the case why haven’t they tried something similar in places that are already overrun, like say Venice - surely it wouldn’t be that hard to blow up the only bridge and make people swim there. Anyway, back to the real world … My ever-reliable app that shows us how we can get from anywhere to anywhere else in the world tells me that I can get there on a bus …. in ... read more

After Salerno, we continued on for two nights in Matera. But first we had to make a stop on the way at the amazing medieval village of Castelmezzano in Basilicata. It's about an hour from Matera, the sun came out and the pastel houses against the stark, eroded mountains in the background was an unforgettable sight. In season, there is a zipline called the "flight of the angels" between this village and the neighboring village of Pietrapertosa. Any trip to Matera will be a memorable one. Some places in Italy are similar but nothing really compares to it. Matera is believed to be the third-oldest continually inhabited place in the world after Aleppo and Jericho. Unesco called it the most outstanding, intact example of a troglodyte settlement in the Mediterranean region. It is situated between two ... read more

We have decided to make an early start today. We want to beat the heat and the crowds. We have plotted an itinerary that will take us through the Barisano district of the old town, an area that was developed by the more affluent residents of Matera. We are set up for the rigors of the terrain. There will be plenty of cobbles, steps, steep climbs and heat. Fitted out with good walking shoes, sun glasses, lashings of sun screen, our Italian sun hats, we look every part the Kiwi tourist. We take a short cut from our apartment to the first stop of the day, Convent of St. Agostino. Men are delivering flowers for what must be a wedding. The view of the town from here is quite special. The sun casts shadows from the ... read more

Day 272 Sunday 16th October 2016 – Naples to Matera If this hotel had a dog house that’s where I would be because I snored all night which was really annoying because Shelley kept punching me to wake me and the girl has a mean left hook. Woke feeling tired and bruised and just wished she would just get used to the sweet night noises I make or otherwise leave me alone so at least one of us can get a good night’s sleep. Luigi the hotel owner once again served up great Italian coffee, cut fruit and homemade cakes while sitting on the terrace. It is hard to express how much we love Naples and this hotel, sitting here with a coffee in hand directly behind a HUGE cathedral with Sunday bells ringing ... read more

I was beyond excited to be able to go south for my last ACLE camp. For three months, I’d been all around northern Italy. Most Italians recognize northern and southern Italy as almost two different countries. Two weeks wasn’t a lot, but I got a taste of some of the differences. My very first night in Matera, my family and another tutor’s family (whose mothers are sisters) took us to a family member’s birthday party. It reminded me of an outdoor summer party in southwestern PA. A big, loud family grilling on a farm! It was a fun evening where I learned how to make/eat bruschetta (yum!). My nuclear host family was with a 13-year-old son and an 11-year-old daughter, who generally looked/acted as if they were 3-5 years older. Both spoke some English, but I ... read more

Today was spent walking around this amazing city which has been built progressively over the years from humble cave dwellings in Neolithic times to fortification during the roman era and development since into two separate cities or "sassies" - both constructed with stone. Sassi caveoso consists of dwellings carved out of the mountains and extended beyond the walls, whereas Sassi barisano is mainly external from the mountains with elaborate free standing and multi levelled dwellings. As in most of these old Italian cities there is also a new section that completely lacks the charm of the old. During our walks today we discovered some abandoned cave dwellings and a heritage listed rain water collection, filtering, storage and distribution system second to none, that lies underneath the city. Most importantly today we found two glasses of prosseco, ... read more