Matera - San Pietro Barisano

The original settlement of Matera lies in two canyons carved by the Gravina River. This area, the Sassi di Matera, is a complex of cave dwellings carved into the ancient river canyon. The settlement is divided into the districts of Sasso Barisano and Sasso Caveoso.

The cave settlements in the area are an exceptional example in the Mediterranean area. Inhabited since the Neolithic Age, Matera can be considered one of the oldest cities in the world.

According to Greek, Roman, Langobard, and Byzantine history, which Matera shares with all of southern Italy, Saracens devastated the place in 938. It came under Norman rule in 1043, became a royal seat, and thus achieved considerable wealth. This bloom continued under the subsequent regiments of the Staufer and Anjou, and in 1270 the cathedral of Matera was completed.

Already by the late 1800s, Matera's cave dwellings became noted for intractable poverty, poor sanitation, meager working conditions, and rampant disease. In 1948, when the city was hit by malaria, 15,000 people lived in 3,300 rooms. From the 1950s on the residents were relocated to newly built apartment blocks. Since the Sassi are now a museum town, tourism is also becoming increasingly important.

Known as la città sotterranea ("the underground city"), the Sassi and the park of the Rupestrian Churches were named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993. In 2019, Matera was declared a European Capital of Culture.

Today Matera has a population of about 60.000, who live in the city "above" the sassi. Dozens of small rock-hewn chapels, churches, and former hermitages are carved into the rocks here.

San Pietro Barisano is the largest rock church in Matera. Archaeological investigations have made it possible to identify the first rock formation dating back to the 12th-13th centuries, below the floor.

With the first enlargement between the 15th and 16th centuries, the side chapels were made. The second renovation, of the 18th century, gave the church its current form: a system with three naves, a new facade (dated 1755) and the underground rooms for the “draining” of the corpses. This funeral practice, reserved for priests or aspirants, consisted in placing the corpses dressed in sacred vestments in niches shaped in the tufa; the mortal remains were removed only at the end of the decomposition.

In 1903 the parish was moved to the church of Sant’Agostino along with most of the sacred furnishings, including the baptismal font.

In the 1960s and 1970s, following the abandonment of the Sassi, most of the works of art were stolen or damaged.


Since I have already uploaded many photos from Matera from previous trips, I will only add a few now.

If you want to see more photos from Matera, click here:

www.ipernity.com/doc/323415/album/1334046