Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Southern Italy's Top 10
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The best time to explore Matera is before it gets up, when the town is tinged gold by
the morning sun and the scent of the day's first coffee lingers in the air. Matera is an ex-
traordinary place: its World Heritage-listed
sassi
(former cave dwellings) were developed
from caves that pock a dizzying ravine. In no other place do you come face to face with
such powerful images of Italy's lost peasant culture; these cavernous dwellings echo a level
of poverty difficult to fathom in a wealthy G8 country.
