POCKET GUIDES

Nearly 70 years after it was abandoned as ‘Italy’s shame’, Matera is a 2019 European Capital of Culture – but this city of caves is not the only draw in Basilicata, says

A SHORT WALK: Prague Old Town (Staré Město) Free of traffic (except for a few horse-drawn carriages) and ringed by colourful houses, the Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí) ranks among the finest public spaces in any city. Prague’s fascinating history comes to life in the buildings around this square, which is little changed in over a century. Streets such as Celetná and Ovocný trh are pedestrianised, so the quarter is ideal for strolling. As you walk around, look out for the decorative house signs

The imposing façade of the Baroque

dominates the northwest corner of the square START

MALÉ NÁMĚSTÍ

U Rotta, a former ironmonger’s shop, is decorated with colourful paintings by the 19th-century artist Mikuláš Aleš The carved Renaissance portal of the House at the Two Golden Bears is the finest of its kind in Prague STAROMĚSTSKÉ NÁMĚSTÍ ISH FIN The famous

on the Old Town Hall draws a crowd of visitors every hour ŽE LE ZN Á The Gothic steeples of the ŠTUPARTSKÁ CELETNÁ H TR NÝ OC OV The Rococo Kinský Palace now houses an art gallery JAKUBSKÁ The beautiful Old Town Hall and its clock tower was made in the 15th century The much-restored Gothic Powder Gate stands at one of the 13 original 11th-century entryways into the The Art Nouveau

is a popular concert venue

An ornamental Baroque plaque is the sign of the House at the Black Sun at No 8 Celetná Street.

“Basilicata has always been poor – even the mafia didn’t bother us,” my guide, Nicola, smiled. It’s a Iine I heard a lot in this improbable region. Paradoxically, it has enough oil to make a Texan envious – yet for decades it was known only as ‘Italy’s shame’.

In the 1940s, the writer Carlo Levi, exiled to southern Italy by the fascists, wrote of a city of caves called Matera. He told of its ‘tragic beauty’, and of its people who lived in ‘dark holes’ known as sassi, hand dug from the rock since prehistory.

Levi’s words later caused a stink in post-war Italy, and in the 1950s Matera’s sassi were cleared and its residents relocated. After lying derelict for decades, it was only in the 1990s – after a park was created to protect the 150 rock-cut churches pocking its hills, and once UNESCO had earmarked the city for World Heritage status – that redemption began in earnest. Caves became hotels, homes and restaurants, and shame gradually turned to pride.

Today, about 1,500 people live in the cave districts, though some 30% of the sassi still remain empty, Nicola revealed as we tramped the cobbles of the Sasso Barisano (cave district). When he was in his teens, he and his friends hung out in these caves; one we visited is now a theatre built into the rock.

After Mel Gibson’s film The Passion of the Christ was shot here in 2004, Italy woke up to Matera: locals throng its piazzas, and it’s been named European Capital of Culture for 2019. Yet beyond the sassi, the region’s wonders remain little known.

Basilicata is a wild land of lonely ghost towns, wineries in ancient volcanoes and colourful history – Greek ruins and Albanian villages built by 15th-century refugees stud hills and valleys.

Two days later, high in Pollino National Park, I saw its wild side for myself. My guide pointed at a solitary giant Bosnian pine, ancient and rare, surrounded by the skeletal remains of dead trees – one last tragic beauty in a region of slow wonders.

Once known for its poverty, Matera’s sassi now host hip eateries and romantic hotels

Gareth Clark ASK A LOCAL

“The Palombaro Lungo cistern and the formerquarry-turned-cultural centre Casa Cava are good sites to help you grasp two important aspects of what makes Matera unique: its water collection system and the vast, beautiful dug-out spaces hidden across the old city.”

Nicola Taddonio wanderlust.co.uk March 2019