Matera is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world — the Sassi cave dwellings that define its skyline have been occupied, in various forms, since the Palaeolithic. The city was carved progressively deeper into the ravine of the Gravina river, with cave houses, churches, cisterns, and grain stores layered over millennia into one of the most complex urban environments in Europe. UNESCO designated the Sassi a World Heritage Site in 1993; in 2019, Matera served as European Capital of Culture.
The city divides into two main districts: the Sasso Caveoso (the older, southern section, closer to the Gravina gorge) and the Sasso Barisano (facing the modern town). Between and beneath them, more than 150 rupestrian churches — cave churches carved from the tufa rock and decorated with Byzantine-influenced frescoes — are scattered through the ravine. Some are accessible with a ticket; others are still being excavated. Without a guide, the topography of the Sassi is genuinely disorienting — lanes dead-end at cave entrances, staircases lead unexpectedly to higher terraces, and the scale of what was built here over thousands of years only becomes apparent with explanation.
This guide covers eight of the best-rated tours in Matera, from two-hour Sassi walks to full-day Puglia excursions.
Quick Comparison: Top Matera Tours at a Glance
| Tour | Duration | From | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matera: 2-Hour Walking Tour | 2 hrs | €20 | First-timers, orientation |
| Sassi di Matera: Guided Walking Tour with Cave House/Church | 2.5 hrs | €28 | History lovers, culture seekers |
| Matera: Tour of the Sassi with Rock-Cut Churches | 2.5 hrs | €32 | Archaeology enthusiasts |
| Matera: Sassi Walking Tour – Alleys, Legends & Cinema | 2 hrs | €25 | Cinema fans, curious travellers |
| Matera: Complete Guided Walking Tour of the Sassi | 4 hrs | €55 | Deep history lovers |
| 3-Hour Private Full Sassi di Matera Guided Tour | 3 hrs | €95 | Private groups, couples |
| Sassi di Matera: Private Walking Tour with Local Guide | 3 hrs | €110 | Couples, small families |
| Matera: Guided Walking Tour with Bread-Making Experience | 3.5 hrs | €65 | Food lovers, families |
For First-Timers
Matera: 2-Hour Walking Tour
Duration: 2 hours | From: approximately €20 per person
The standard Matera introduction, meeting at Piazzetta Pascoli (the belvedere with the most famous view across the Sassi) and walking through both the Sasso Barisano and Sasso Caveoso with a local guide. The guide covers the history of cave habitation in Matera — which predates the Roman period — the social structure of the cave dwellings (which housed both nobles and peasants, though in very different conditions), the forcible evacuation of residents in the 1950s by Prime Minister De Gasperi (who called Matera “the shame of Italy”), and the subsequent UNESCO listing and rehabilitation.
The two-hour format covers the essential landmarks — the Piazza Vittorio Veneto, the Cathedral on the ridge, the Sasso Caveoso lanes — without going deep into any single aspect. It is the right starting point before exploring independently.
Book the Matera 2-Hour Walking Tour
For History and Archaeology Lovers
Sassi di Matera: Guided Walking Tour with Cave House and Church
Duration: 2.5 hours | From: approximately €28 per person
A walking tour that includes entry to a Casa Grotta — a reconstructed cave dwelling showing how a single-room cave house functioned as home to a family and their livestock until the 1950s. The small space (typically 30–40 square metres) housed parents, children, grandparents, and animals in a single room, with the carved stone bed platforms, storage niches, and livestock pens still in place. Entry to one of the rupestrian churches (typically Santa Maria de Idris or San Pietro Barisano) is also included.
Understanding the Casa Grotta is essential to understanding the forced evacuation of 1952–1963 — the conditions were genuinely dire — and the current rehabilitation of cave properties as boutique hotels and residences.
Book the Sassi Walking Tour with Cave House and Church
Matera: Tour of the Sassi with Rock-Cut Churches
Duration: 2.5 hours | From: approximately €32 per person
Focused on Matera’s rupestrian churches, this tour visits Santa Maria de Idris (carved into the rock of the Idris crag in the Sasso Caveoso, with Byzantine frescoes dating to the 13th century) and San Giovanni in Monterrone (immediately below, connected by internal staircase). The guide explains the Byzantine monastic tradition that drove the creation of these churches — southern Italy was under Byzantine influence from the 7th century and saw significant Greek monastic settlement — and the frescoes’ iconographic programme.
Entry fees to the churches are included. This is the best tour for travellers with a specific interest in medieval religious art and Byzantine culture.
Book the Matera Sassi Tour with Rock-Cut Churches
Matera: Sassi Walking Tour — Alleys, Legends & Cinema
Duration: 2 hours | From: approximately €25 per person
Matera has been used as a film location with remarkable frequency — most famously for Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ (2004), Pier Paolo Pasolini’s The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964), and the Bond film No Time to Die (2021). The ancient, timeless quality of the Sassi makes it convincingly ancient for biblical Jerusalem or a generically ancient Mediterranean city.
This tour traces the filming locations through the Sasso Caveoso alleys while also covering the urban legends and folklore of the city — the legends of the Murgia plateau across the ravine, the stories attached to specific cave churches, and the oral traditions that document Matera’s extraordinarily long inhabitation.
Book the Matera Sassi Alleys, Legends & Cinema Tour
For Deep Exploration
Matera: Complete Guided Walking Tour of the Sassi
Duration: 4 hours | From: approximately €55 per person
The most comprehensive Matera walking tour available, covering both Sassi districts in depth with a light lunch included. The four-hour format allows the guide to cover aspects that shorter tours skip: the cistern system (Matera’s caves were engineered to collect rainwater with extraordinary precision), the Vicinato di San Martino (the most complete surviving example of a cave-dwelling community), and the archaeology of the Murgia plateau visible across the Gravina gorge. A light lunch of local specialties — bread from the Matera sourdough tradition (which uses a specific local yeast culture with documented history going back centuries), local cheeses, and Aglianico wine — is served mid-tour.
Book the Complete Matera Sassi Walking Tour
For Couples and Private Groups
3-Hour Private Full Sassi di Matera Guided Tour
Duration: 3 hours | From: approximately €95 per person
A private tour allowing the guide to customise the route, pace, and depth entirely to your interests. The three-hour format is long enough to go deep into the Sasso Caveoso, visit the rupestrian church interiors at leisure, and understand the cave-house social structure without the constraints of a group schedule. Well-suited to travellers with specific interests — Byzantine art, Roman history, Italian Neorealism, or simply the desire for unhurried conversation with a knowledgeable local.
Book the Private Full Sassi Matera Tour
Sassi di Matera: Private Walking Tour with Local Guide
Duration: 3 hours | From: approximately €110 per person
A premium private walking experience with a highly-rated local guide, covering both Sassi districts and including access to sites not on the standard tour route. The guide tailors the experience around your interests — whether that is the geological history of the tufa formation, the social history of cave inhabitation, or the contemporary story of Matera’s rehabilitation and gentrification. Entry fees to cave houses and churches are typically included.
Book the Sassi di Matera Private Walking Tour
For Food Lovers and Families
Matera: Guided Walking Tour with Bread-Making Experience
Duration: 3.5 hours | From: approximately €65 per person
Matera bread — Pane di Matera IGP — has a protected geographical status and a documented history stretching back to at least the Renaissance. The city’s sourdough culture, the specific wheat varieties grown on the Murgia plateau, and the large-format loaves (up to 2 kg, shaped in a distinctive curved-horn form) are central to local identity. This tour covers the Sassi with a guide before moving to a working bakery where participants make bread using traditional methods, then eat the results with local accompaniments.
The bread-making component is genuinely participatory — not a demonstration — and makes the tour work well for families with children or for travellers who want a food experience that goes beyond eating.