Matera Sassi tour: Rock churches and cave houses with guide
The cave houses still hold the furniture and tools families used to live underground.
A guided walking tour of Matera's historic center takes you through the Sassi (the iconic neighborhoods of cave dwellings and rock-carved churches) with an authorized guide who reveals the architecture, history and daily life hidden in the narrow alleys and courtyards. The tour includes entry to the Church of Santa Maria di Idris and the Casa Grotta, a furnished cave home that shows how families lived in these stone rooms until the 1950s. You choose your guide's language at checkout: English, Spanish, Italian, French or German.
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Step-by-step itinerary
Explore Matera's historic center and Sassi
- Meet at Central Office Via Don Minzoni 13
- Start walk from Piazza Vittorio Veneto
- Tour old town alleys and squares
- Visit Sasso Barisano viewpoint
- Enter Church of Santa Maria di Idris
- Walk through Sasso Caveoso neighborhoods
- Visit underground oil mills and barbarian cemetery
- Tour Casa Grotta di Matera
The experience
The walk starts at Piazza Vittorio Veneto, the main square where Matera's social and cultural life converges. From here the guide leads you through the old town: past historic buildings, churches and the facades that show how the city evolved over centuries. The alleys and squares each hold stories of everyday work, art and tradition. Walking the cobbled streets and portals, you move through the balance between how people actually lived here and the artistic heritage they left behind, seeing the city with the details a solo visitor would miss.
The Sasso Barisano viewpoint comes next, an elevated position where you can see the entire neighborhood at once: the cave houses interwoven with cave churches and narrow passages below. From above, the structure and layout become clear without having to navigate every tight alley. The guide explains the history, architecture and daily life of the people who built and inhabited this extraordinary context, pointing out curiosities and details often hidden from those passing through alone. This vantage point also gives you the best light for photographs before you descend into the neighborhoods themselves.
Inside the Church of Santa Maria di Idris, one of the most beautiful rock churches, you see how faith and stone merged in Matera's past. Then you move into the Sasso Caveoso, the most iconic part of the Sassi, where families once shared courtyards and common areas. The guide walks you through the underground oil mills (evidence of peasant ingenuity and the work that sustained the community), and the barbarian cemetery, a rare archaeological site that preserves ancient memories. Every alley and courtyard tells centuries of history, work and devotion.
The Casa Grotta di Matera is the final stop: a cave home furnished with original objects and traditional tools, showing how families lived in these narrow stone rooms carved into the rock. Walking through the rooms, kitchens and inner courtyards, you see the survival strategies and habits that shaped centuries of Matera life. The guide reveals stories and anecdotes that make each corner unique, allowing you to understand the culture and traditions of the Sassi firsthand, in genuine environments that still hold the atmosphere of a time long past.
What’s included
- Entry to the Church of Santa Maria di Idris and the Casa Grotta di Matera.
- a two-hour guided walk through Matera's Sassi with an authorized guide in your chosen language.
- visits to the Sasso Barisano viewpoint, the Sasso Caveoso neighborhoods, the underground oil mills and the barbarian cemetery.
Options for this experience
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Before you book
Lasts 2h, runs every day at 10:30, 12:00 and 14:30, from € 20 per person, with live guides in 5 languages and with free cancellation up to 24 h before.
Prices and times updated today
Operated by Passi nei Sassi
Is this one for you?Book this tour if you want to understand how people actually lived in Matera's cave houses and stone neighborhoods: the guide's stories and access to furnished rooms and archaeological sites turn the Sassi from a beautiful backdrop into a lived history you can walk through and comprehend.
Traveler reviews
Top questions
What languages is the tour guided in?
In English and Italian, at 10:30, 12:00 and 14:30. In Spanish, at 10:30. In French, at 10:30 and 14:30. In German, at 14:30.
Can children come?
Yes. Ticket types: Youth (12 to 17 years); Child (under 12): free.
What happens if it rains?
It may be canceled due to bad weather. If that happens, you're offered another date or a refund. Free cancellation up to 24 h before the start.
What exactly is the Casa Grotta di Matera?
The Casa Grotta is a furnished cave house that shows how families lived in Matera's Sassi until the 1950s. It contains original objects and traditional tools arranged in rooms, kitchens and inner courtyards carved into the rock, giving you a direct view of daily domestic life in these stone dwellings.
Do I walk down into the narrow alleys of the Sasso Caveoso, or see it from above?
You do both. The tour includes a viewpoint of the Sasso Barisano from an elevated position so you can see the entire neighborhood's structure at once, then you walk through the neighborhoods themselves (the alleys, courtyards and streets where families lived) to experience the Sasso Caveoso on foot.
Is the Church of Santa Maria di Idris included in the tour?
Yes. Entry to the Church of Santa Maria di Idris, one of Matera's most beautiful rock churches, is included in the tour price. You visit it with your guide as part of the walk through the historic center.
How long does the tour take?
The tour lasts two hours. It covers Piazza Vittorio Veneto, the Sasso Barisano viewpoint, the Church of Santa Maria di Idris, the Sasso Caveoso neighborhoods with the oil mills and cemetery, and the Casa Grotta cave house.
Is this tour suitable if I'm not in great physical shape?
The tour is suitable for all physical fitness levels. It involves walking through the historic center and alleys of the Sassi, but the pace is described as pleasant and the guide adjusts the experience to the group.
Matera Sassi tour: Rock churches and cave houses with guide
2h · EN · ES · FR · DE · IT
from € 20 per person