Guide to Matera's Rock-Hewn Churches: A Cultural Heritage Tour

Matera's Sassi district, a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1993 and European Capital of Culture in 2019, is home to numerous rock-hewn churches carved into calcarenite rock. After decades of abandonment from the 1960s to the 1980s, recovery plans have revitalized the area. Notable churches include Cristo la Gravinella (facade from 1722, 16th-century fresco of Crucifixion), Cristo La Selva in the Murgia Materana Park (restored in early 18th century, 13th-century Madonna fresco), Madonna dei Derelitti (also known as Madonna della Scordata, with 19th-century painted stone altar and fragments including Dormitio Virginis), Madonna delle Vergini (18th century, ceramic tiles from Laterza, overlooking the Gravina), Santa Maria dell'Idris (14th century, part of a complex with San Giovanni in Monterrone, which has frescoes from the 12th to 17th centuries), Santa Lucia alle Malve (9th century, used by Benedictine nuns until 1283, features a 1270 Madonna del Latte by Maestro Rinaldo da Taranto), San Pietro Barisano (largest, with 1755 facade, three naves, and a 'scolatura' chamber for corpse drainage; its 1771 wooden high altar is now in storage at the Soprintendenza per i Beni Storico Artistici ed Etnoantropologici della Basilicata), San Nicola all'Ofra (multi-level complex with an 1839 fresco of Madonna and Child commissioned by Cosimo Caione), and Madonna di Monteverde (stone facade with small bell gable, fragments of frescoes including Madonna and Child and Crucifixion).