ITALY - BASILICATA TOWNS - MARATEA AND MATERA AND PUGLIA COAST ON THE ADRIATIC

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MARATEA

This is a town in the Basilicata region of Italy. It is the only town in the region on the Tyrrhenian Coast. For this reason it is called the "Pearl of the Tyrrhenian".

Many churches are in this town, and for that reason it is called the town of 44 churches. It also inhabits 20 miles of rocky coastline and 20 beaches. Maratea Borgo is the center which is an old Paleolithic era town from 15-14 Century BC. 

Christ the Redeemer is carved from Carrara marble in 1965 by Bruno Innocenti of Florence on the top of Monte San Biagio. 

AS seen from our room at the hotel....

MATERA

This town is also in the Basilicata area in the mountains. It was the capital of the region from 1663-1806.

It is a small canyon carved from the vast mountainous limestone.

The Citta Sotterranea "subterraneon city" is ONE OF THE OLDEST CONTINUOUSLY INHABITED CITIES IN THE WORLD. (10,000 BC). It is located in the mountains of Abruzzo at 3,000 feet above sea level. During the last century the "moderinsation" of rural Italy compromised the architectural heritage of many of its countryside villages and  towns.

However when the inhabitants left in the 1950's the town was saved from architectural abuse.  The  Sassi historical center was made a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993. It was named the European Capital of Culture in 2019 as well as Plovdiv, Bulgaria. 

The town was the first in Italy 1943 to fight against German occupation. The Sassi di Matera is the first ever human development in Italy. The habitations dug into the calcareous rock. In 1950 they were forced to relocate the population (because of disease and low life expecantcy). In the late 1980's it became a more attractive tourist attraction and UNESCO declared it in 1993. 

SEXTANTIO - LE GROTTE DELLA CIVITA (Our Cave Hotel)

The hotel consists of 18 Cave rooms, reception and the Rock church (breakfast room), located in the most ancient Sassi area facing the Murgia National Park.

The project aimed to preserve the integral conservation of the original site and its hybrid use from religious rituals to the dail agricultural and pastoral subsitence .. 

The courtyard in front of our room at the hotel...

THE ROCK CHURCHES.....

Visiting the world of Finotti. In the churches of Madonna delle Virtu and San Nicola die Greci, with thirty eight marble and bronze works as well as seven etchings in the grotto spaces ..

Our tour guide. Her father grew up in this area in a cave home.

Many films were made in Matera - 2004 - Mel Gibson's Passion of Christ; 2016 Ben Hur; 2016 Metallica music video " Spit out the Bone"; 2017, Wonder Woman. 

PUGLIA

Located in the Southeastern region of Italy. It forms the "heel" of the famous "boot" of Italy. Derived from the word "Apulia" is derived from a Greek word that means "the other side of the Adriatic. 

Our all white hotel in Savelletri di Fasano

that's a real breakfast......

The area has 480 miles of coastline, olive groves, baroque towns, and an excellent Mditerranean cuisine. 

Trullo (Trulli - plural) are traditional dry stone huts with a conical roof. They were used as temporary field shelters and storehouses or permant dwellings by small proprietors. They reached their peak in the late 19th century. Alberobello is an area where many trulli's are still in existence. 

DOMENICO MODUGNO wrote "Volare" which means "to fly' in 1958 - local town hero

Other heros...LeBron James, Pope Francis, and Bale

These olive trees were planted by the Romans. They are 1,000's of years old.

Who is older? The olive tree or the combined ages of the two in front of it???....that's correct, the olive tree.

We have not been buying "extra virgin " olive oil....yes, we've been duped. 

Where is my room key????

MOVING ON......TO SICILY......