Bella Italia Stage 22

Gravina in Puglia to Matera

Strava: 41.5 km, 721m, 2:39, 216 shifts

I had been looking forward to this day for a while. It was a half-rest day so we took it easy in the morning. Daniel was a superstar and went shopping for omelet ingredients then cooked up a feast. We had it with fruit, yogurt and bread – and it was great to have no pastries for once!

It felt later but we carried down the stairs and started riding at 10. The gravel path was confusing and not possible to follow so we improvised to get out of town. We rode a dirt road to reconnect and it turned out that most of our ride today was off-road. We had some steep climbs and descents, beautiful single-track through the forest and a little bit of paved road connecting the trails.

Before we knew it we were halfway there and our GPS track ended. We switched to the ninth and final track; each is around 250 km. We had a big climb up to Matera partly on dirt. We stopped near the top of town for cold drinks. It was about 30°, not really hot but not cool either.

After cooling off and a quick video chat with Katie in Maine, we cruised the last couple of km to our “cave hotel”. Our man arrived and showed us around, “our biggest cave suite.” It’s a two story apartment, three beds upstairs, built into the rock of the cliff. Of course we call it our Man Cave.

After showers and some relaxing we headed out to have lunch and see the town. We found a cool little local restaurant for lunch, simple pasta dishes with white wine, and throw in some desserts for good measure. Then we walked around and made our way to the meeting point for the walking tour we had booked.

A local named Cosimo showed us around with a couple of other people for two hours. He was born here and told us a lot about the history. Interestingly Matera was called the “Shame of Italy” until 1952 when the caves were finally declared unfit for people to live in and the residents forced into nearby alternative housing. Later, remodeling happened such that today it’s vibrant and instead of saying they are from somewhere else, residents proudly say they are from Matera. He took us into a cave museum showing how people were living until the 1950’s and into a cave church. People have been living here continuously for 9,000 years! He also showed us another place where “No Time To Die” was shot and told us about how it was the two months they were shooting here in 2019. We saw a “Passion of the Christ” shooting spot too.

After two hours of walking around we needed a break and went to a bar that had a rooftop terrace for drinks. I had the best IPA in Italy this trip (Amariam). After that restaurants were open so we decided to check out Ristorante Quid, quite a fancy place. Despite our clothes, we were immediately welcomed in. We went for the standard six course meal which turned out great. The food was amazing and the service too. We ended up staying close to three hours and having a fantastic time. The restaurant is tiny and there were only two other customers so they needed us.

Matera is a musical town with a big conservatory. We heard students practicing a few times on our walk. An orchestra was just finishing practice by our restaurant and we stopped to listen to more live music at an outdoor restaurant after 10 pm on the way home. We probably haven’t done it justice but I loved our short visit to Matera.