Continuing a sweaty exploration of an amazing city

From where I left off yesterday I did go off to the third cave church which had been looted in the 1970s – very sadly. Apparently many people left Matera in the 50s, 60s and 70s due to the terrible living conditions, some were forcibly relocated from their cave dwellings and over this time a lot of looting went on. Well it has certainly made a remarkable recovery and is gearing itself up to host the Cultural expo in 2019. Anyway this church was San Pietro Barisano, down in the Sassi and there are just lovely frescoes throughout although not always in great repair. The interesting thing is that underneath the church is where they used to store the bodies to ‘drain’ them, only removing them when decomposition was complete. So down I went wandering through these underground corridors covered in ’niches’ where the bodies were sat to drain. Most interesting!!

Up I went then and found myself a spot on the main Piazza Vittorio Veneto to sit and do some people watching with a glass of wine in hand. I then went to a most fantastic restaurant for dinner called Il Cantuccio. That was a real find thanks to LPG. A lovely waiter who had spent a year in Australia took me in hand and suggested an antipasta of Ricotta with fig and orange…it was the most delicious thing I’ve tasted for ages. He was adamant that we just don’t get Ricotto in Australia…not what he calls ricotto. Then a delicious pasta and a ricotta mousse for dessert. I was very happy. He also insisted I try this delicious wine that I’ll never be able to remember…a dry muscata. You will be surprised to learn I’m drinking mainly white wine in this heat.

This morning I went to some other amazing cave churches, one on top of the other. Madonna delle Virtu’ and San Nicola dei Greci with a labyrinth of caves and passages with cellars where they stored their wine. They were founded as monasteries for Nuns escaping Palestine in the 11th and 12th centuries and continuously used since. Surrounded by cave dwellings and full of frescoes left by the monks. It is all a bit incredible. After this bit of exploration I found myself climbing a mountain of steps to get up to the Duomo…and in the boiling sun. When I finally got there I stopped in a cafe for a fruit punch thingo, wandered through the town and came home for the afternoon hibernation.

Now I’m about to go out again to forage for food and probably sit and have a pre-dinner drink in a piazza somewhere. I’m spending a lot of money just so that I can sit and have drinks in between exertion.
Internet is still a pain but it comes and goes, I just have to wait for it to come!!