Easter in Matera: between Sassi and Calanchi

Make your own way to the Ecoluxury Retreat Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita. After arriving at the hotel, you will have free time to explore Matera's characteristic narrow streets. Dinner at your leisure.

After breakfast, meet your guide at the hotel. The guide will introduce you to all the unique features of this one-of-a-kind place.

A guided tour of Matera is an exciting journey into the heart of history and stone. It starts from the famous Sassi, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where houses carved into the rock climb up the slopes like a living nativity scene. Walking through the winding alleys of Sasso Caveoso and Sasso Barisano, you will discover frescoed rock churches and peasant dwellings that have remained intact over time. The guide will tell you about the hard but ingenious life that was lived here until a few decades ago, revealing a world suspended between ancient civilizations and cultural rebirth.

After the guided tour, you will have free time for lunch (not included).

The afternoon is free for personal exploration of this unique city: you can visit the Palombaro Lungo, an ancient cistern dug under the city for water supply, or simply lose yourself in the Sassi. Alternatively, after breathing in the historical soul of the city, continue your journey by crossing the picturesque Tibetan bridge of Gravina. From here, take one of the scenic paths that climb up to the Murgia Materana. The walk is accessible and rejuvenating, and will lead you to a unique vantage point: from this perspective, Matera reveals itself in all its beauty. Wait for the sunset, when the Sassi begin to glow with golden light. The view will be picture-perfect: the city lights up as if by magic, suspended between past and present, leaving you breathless.

Dinner on your own.

A buffet breakfast will be served.

Independent transfer to Craco. An hour's drive from Matera lies the abandoned town of Craco, nestled in the Lucanian badlands. Visiting Craco means immersing yourself in a suspended place, where history has left deep traces and time seems to have crystallized. The history of this fascinating village is marked by a dramatic event: a violent landslide in 1963 that changed the fate of the community forever. Between 1963 and 1974, most of the inhabitants were relocated. After a period of abandonment, marked by vandalism and looting, the village began to write a new story. Today, what once seemed lost has been transformed into something unique: a place enveloped in surreal silence, nestled among the calanchi, spectacular clay formations shaped by rainwater, which sculpts the landscape into angular, almost sharp shapes. It is precisely the uniqueness of this landscape that has attracted the interest of many film directors (including Mel Gibson for “The Passion”), who have chosen Craco as a “natural set.” Craco Vecchia welcomes you as a “ghost town,” but one alive with memory, art, and charm that you will discover accompanied by a local guide. Lunch on your own.

Before returning to Matera, you can take a detour to Metaponto to visit the local archaeological park or extend the route to Aliano, a veritable balcony overlooking the Lucanian badlands where the writer Carlo Levi wrote “Christ Stopped at Eboli.”

Dinner on your own.

A buffet breakfast will be served.

After checking out of your hotel, begin your journey back to your place of origin.
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