Location: Matera
Top Things to do in Matera
The 10 Best Specialty Museums in Matera, Basilicata
Get to Matera quickly, because it’s still relatively undiscovered by foreign tourists. In town, visit the Domenico Ridola National Museum. Matera’s real claim to fame, though, and the reason it’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the extensive series of cave dwellings ("i sassi") southeast of town, first inhabited by Benedictine and Basilian monks. You’ll see individual cells, chapels, and even some churches, many adorned with Byzantine decorations and frescoes.
Restaurants in Matera
1. Museo Laboratorio della Civilta Contadina
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 436 reviews
A restored XVI century building with court located in via San Giovanni Vecchio 60 (Sasso Barisano) is the home of the 500 m2 large Museo Laboratorio della Civiltà Contadina (Museum-Workshop of the Peasant Culture). The exhibition rooms are dedicated to the ancient trades related to the work in the fields but also to all the other handicraft activities carried on in the ancient quarters of Matera: sieve-maker, tanner, shepherd, basket-maker, cavamonti, shoe-shiner, barber, cabinet-maker, mastro d'ascia, blacksmith, tailor, conciapiatti, potter, knife-grinder, saddler, coppersmith, cobbler, peasant, scalpellino. Also, various every-day tools are exposed: farm tools, equipment for storage and processing of wheat, weaving equipment. Other rooms are dedicated to daily-life places - such as the public wine cellar and the typical house - and themes related to the South-Italy history such as brigandage, childhood condition and water-harvesting. The Museo-Laboratorio aims to be a dynamic structure among the tourism products of Matera and a reference for the development of the culture of the past through exhibition and educational activities.
Reviewed By PaulinaRospondek
Great place to visit. The collection is quite big and it is very interesting. the owner is very nice and he will give more information if you are interested. highly recommended when visiting Matera
2. Museo Immersivo della Bruna
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 7 reviews
3. MOOM Matera Olive Oil Museum
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 109 reviews
Matera Olive Oil Museum(MOOM). Reconstructed in an ancient underground oil mill in Sassi of Matera. RESERVATION IS NEEDED! PLEASE CALL US TO ASK A VISIT!
Reviewed By LEnriquesC - Brasilia, Brazil
The Moom, Matera Olive Oil Museum, is located in the Sassi of Matera, in Casalnuovo, and has been realized in an old rock press as proof of the historical features of the cave and its integration in the urban landscape. The building hosting the Moom is assumed to date back to the 15 -16 century. This is a very interesting little museum, and Educational and very worthwhile.
4. Racconti in Pietra
Overall Ratings
5.0 based on 9 reviews
The museum "Racconti in Pietra",which translated means "Tales of Stones",proposes a time travel suitable for children, telling a piece of history,the earliest one,of the territory sorrounding Matera in a fresh and new way.Get ready to meet dinosaurs,the "Giuliana" whale and footprints of creatures from earlier times. Come to visit us in Vico San Leonardo 9,in the heart of the "Sassi di Matera".
5. Casa Grotta di Vico Solitario
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 1,525 reviews
Matera Sassi Storica Casa Grotta - di vico Solitario: Typically Furnished Cave Dwelling To see what a real peasant dwelling was like before the “Sassi” of Matera were abandoned, visit a typical cave dwelling with furniture and tools of the time in the “Sasso Caveoso”. The description of the Cave Dwelling in English language is available inside. Open all year round.
Reviewed By Sylvain54321 - Lugrin, France
This is a visit of a typical 19th century house of Matera. The house is amazingly well furnished, so that one can learn a huge amount of interesting facts on how the daily life was managed at that time. The immersive effect is very strong, and you realize that each act of ordinary life was difficult in those times. This type of installation is so much better than the usual “tradition museums” in which you see the old clothes and habits !
6. MUSMA Museum of Contemporary Sculpture
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 350 reviews
The MUSMA, internationally recognized for its unique cave exhibition spaces, is the most important museum entirely dedicated to sculpture in Italy. MUSMA occupies the spaces of the 17th Century Palazzo Pomarici and was inaugurated on October 14th, 2006. In ancient caves carved-out of limestone over time, there are works of art which tell the story of Italian and international sculpture from the late 1800s to today and seem to have found their “natural home”. The fullness and emptiness of sculpture appear extraordinarily complementary to the positive and negative spaces of the Sassi architecture. From the underground rooms, we pass into the noble palace, onto the first floor where the works are arranged in chronological order and are framed by elegant vaults and cornices.
Reviewed By estersatomi - Bologna, Italy
Rich contemporary sculptures (and not only) collection in a unique location, stunning caves. You can find a large variety of artists like Antonietta Raphaël, Maria Lai, Emilio Isgrò, Medardo Rosso. The bookshop is well stocked.
7. Sassi in Miniatura
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 467 reviews
Reviewed By WendyandAlbieN - Auckland, New Zealand
A must see-must do during your discovery of Sassi Matera. The artistry and fine hand work required to create this is amazing, and it gives you a good perspective of the actual old city
8. Museo Archeologico Nazionale Domenico Ridola
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 185 reviews
9. Complesso Rupestre San Giorgio
Overall Ratings
4.5 based on 11 reviews
Rock site that, in its 40 meters of depth, covers 1000 years of Matera history. The ancient church of San Giorgio al Paradiso first gave way to a mill, in the 1700s, to a winery for pressing grapes and storing the barrels. The water recovery system is visible with its intact canals and with crock plastered cisterns.
10. MATA - Museo Diocesano
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