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Next door to the 17th-century Lanfranchi Palace, home of the Museum of Medieval and Modern Art of Basilicata, is the tiny Pascoli Square (Piazzetta Pascoli). The square is named for the great 19th-century poet of Matera, Giuseppe Pascoli. Pascoli started in Matera as a high school teacher of literature. He would have liked the Belvedere, and here's why.

The Belvedere is, in effect, a balcony from which one can view the most striking and emotive prospects of the Sassi districts (Sasso Caveoso and Sasso Barisano). It is a place for lovers and poets. In the evening, see the Civita Caves, Matera Cathedral, and the Sasso Caveoso, all a-glitter with lights "like sparkling pearls."

Japanese sculptor, Kengiro Azuma, exhibited his bronze work, "the Drop," in Pascoli Square in 2011. It is a drop of water, standing nearly ten feet high, a symbol of the importance of water in the life of Matera since the beginning.

Walk along the pedestrian Ridola Street and suddenly come upon Pascoli Square. Step up to the stone parapet and see the ingenuity of Matera. The city of stone fans out like an amphitheater. Spires, great rocks, pinnacles, grottos, and caves offer a timeless panorama. It is a place of peace and tranquility.

Ridola Street is nearly 657 feet long, connecting Lanfranchi Palace with Francesco Square. The street is named Domenico Ridola. Signore Ridola was a medical researcher and a self-taught archeologist. He was also a mayor of Matera and a senator.

The National Archaeological Museum "Domenico Ridola," named for Doctor Ridola, is housed in the 18th-century Santa Chiara Convent. The museum was instituted by Domenico Ridola's will in 1911. A room in the museum is dedicated to his manuscripts and relics, ranging from Neolithic times to the Magna Grecia era.

In the 18th century, Archbishop Antonio Del Ryos wanted a district built outside the Sassi districts (Sasso Caveoso and Sasso Barisano) and Civita Caves. The area was called "New Houses." The construction was to house employees of the Seminary. The Council of Trent required this development in every diocese. This "18th-century backbone" of Matera would become Ridola Street.

Lanfranchi Palace, completed in 1672, is on Ridola Street. The wide street is lined with well-preserved 18th and 19th-century buildings. It separates the Sassi from the new city. Ridola Street houses the bust of Doctor Ridola, the Churches of San Francesco, and the Church of Purgatorio, with the facade of skulls. There are restaurants, bars, and places to enjoy the local cuisine.

The story of extra virgin olive oil is told at the table by oleo tourism and visits to olive oil museums. The Matera Olive Oil Museum ("MOOM") is a good reference. MOOM is located inside an ancient underground oil mill in Sasso Caveoso. The indications are that the mill was in operation as early as the 1600 year.

The factory was owned and operated by the church. The olives came to the presses from plots owned by the clergy and other private parties. The mill has expanded over time by increasing the number of presses and areas for storage. By the end of the 19th century, the upper floor was used for olive storage.

Olives dropped through a hole in the upper floor directly into the muller (grinder) below. Excavations uncovered many settling wells. Until 2014 they had been covered by oenological (wine-making) paraphernalia. After the end of World War I, the oil mill was used as a wine cellar.

Visitors enter a small courtyard that holds stones used in the presses. From the courtyard, enter the hypogeum (underground chamber). Millers used oil lamps to lighten things up. Next comes the stable, then the muller room. It is the room for pressing, storage, and finishing products.

In the tasting room, the oil produced here is tasted. The museum aims to train and inform visitors about recognizing quality products.

A short walk from Sassi di Matera, the cave district of Matera, is Casa Grotta, the historic Cave House of Lonely Alley (Vico Solitario). Cave houses were abandoned by law in 1952. A visit to the Cave House in Lonely Alley will give an idea of what existence was like for the tenants in their caves.

The entrance arch of the Cave House, framed by a large rock cavity, is the only built element standing by the cave. The most recent changes within the cave date from the 1700s. In a large single room, spaces are marked out by furnishings. In the hearth/kitchen is a table with one large plate from which everyone had eaten.

A bed made of iron trestles and planks holds a corn mattress. Across from the bed is a manager for the family mule. On the other side of a partition are a space where the tufa rock is quarried and a circular pit for manure. There is a system for water collection consisting of canals and a cistern.

There is a brazier, a laundry tub, and a communal oven. The bed is high off the floor, away from dampness. The stables and like rooms are in the back. The kitchen, living room, dining room, and bedroom spaces are in the front for better light and aeration.

When the district was abandoned, it became a cave ghost town. Since then, however, many caves have been restructured as tourist lodgings and Bed & Breakfasts. Even with these improvements, the voices and aromas of 100 years ago seem to linger.

In the ancient snow collection cave nearby, B&W documentary videos show the lives of the cave people of yore. The neighboring rock church of San Pietro Monterrone dates from the 9th century AD.

The Cave House Museum is managed by Matera Theater Group (Gruppo Teatro Matera), a non-profit cultural association.

The Church of Saint Maria of Idris is a rupestrian church in Matera. It is carved into a limestone rock of Monterrone that dominates the Sasso Caveoso. The beautiful location offers a unique view of the city. The church can be reached via stairs to the rock Church of Santa Lucia alle Malve. "Idris" is derived from the Greek "Odigitria," "who shows the way."

A facade of masonry is next to a small bell tower. The interior nave is uneven. Some frescoes have been removed for restoration. Once restored, they are kept at the Superintendency for Historical and Artistic Heritage of Matera. On the altar is a 17th-century tempera rendering of the Madonna and Child.

Santa Maria de Idris is connected to the rock crypt of San Giovanni in Monterrone via a tunnel. The tomb holds several precious frescoes from the 12th to the 17th century. A fresco of John the Baptist is in the tunnel. In a lunette above the crypt is a 12th-century Christ Pantocrator. The title is Greek, meaning "All-Powerful."

After the corridor is a large hall, a nave of San Giovanni in Monterrone. On the wall of the presbytery is a 12th-century Madonna and Child, Glykophilousa style (Virgin of the Sweet Kiss). Other saints stand in decorated niches.

The Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, also known as San Pietro Caveoso, sits at the eastern end of San Pietro Caveoso Square, overlooking the ravine of the Gravina River far below.

The Baroque-style facade has three portals. Each portal has a niche above holding a statue. The figures represented are "Madonna of the Mercy," "Saint Peter," and "Saint Paul." The side niches each have single rectangular windows above. The central portal is surmounted by two single-lancet windows.

A rose window is in the center gable. The three-stage bell tower has Gothic arch windows. There is an ornate balcony with corbels on the second level. The bell tower is capped with a three-stage tapered spire and a crucifix.

Inside, the ceiling of the central nave is decorated with pictures of "Jesus and Saint Peter" and "Saint Paul's Conversion." The 18th-century altar has a polyptych painted by a mysterious unknown Matera artist. There were originally eight chapels, but four were demolished to build the oratory.

In the fourth chapel on the left is a 13th-century baptismal font. The chapel is 56 feet wide and 141 feet long, with a deep choir. The church has recently been consolidated, improving stability between the building and the rock foundations.

Noha House (Casa Noha) is an asset of the Italian Environmental Fund (Fondo Ambiente Italiano), known by its initials, FAI. The Fund, established in 1975, is aimed to protect elements of the physical heritage of Italy.

Located at the top of the oldest part of Matera, the 15th-century Noha House was once the residence of the noble Noha family. The Civita district was favored, by the nobility, as the best place to build their homes. From the Sedile Square (Piazza del Sedile) to the Cathedral Square (Piazza Duomo), there is a strip of palaces once belonging to noble families.

In the 15th and 16th centuries, the Nohas owned a complex of properties and gardens connected to the San Paolo district by a bridge called, not surprisingly, the Noha Bridge. The Casa Noha was built over an erosion channel in the Cavone district, an area shunned by other families as it was considered too unstable for building.

The Nohas purchased ruins in the area and used these materials to fortify the foundations. All this digging uncovered archeological artifacts from the Bronze and Iron Ages, Greek and Roman settlements, and the early Middle Ages.

Noha House is a prime example of the private architecture of the time, embellished by tuff framing and carvings. The house is partially covered. There are land service rooms around the courtyard. The home is basically within a cave. An external staircase leads to the residential area of the complex.

There is an informational thirty-minute video showing the history of Matera from the Stone Age to the present day. Earphones for several languages are available, and benches to sit on. The rooms are very cool in the hot Matera summers.

The FAI acquired Noha House in 2004. The Fund created a strong multimedia presentation that tells the millenary story of the area from the perspectives of architecture, art, and archaeology. The video is called "The Invisible stones. An extraordinary journey through the history of Matera."

Matera Cathedral is an Apulian-Romanesque edifice of the 13th century. It sits on the highest spur of the old city that divides the two Sassi (Sasso Caveoso and Sasso Barisano). The Matera Cathedral was completed in 1270. Unlike the interior, which has experienced many changes, the outside has remained almost intact.

The facade is dominated by a rose window of sixteen rays surmounted by Archangel Michael Crushing the dragon. Below is an Atlas apparently supporting the window. Descending from the pediment are 12 lemons symbolizing the evangelists and apostles.

The bell tower on the left side of the church stands 170 feet high. It has four floors; three have mullioned windows. The fourth floor has single-light windows with a pyramid above.

The main entrance has a full-basket arch with a lunette. On the sides are statues of Saints Peter and Paul. At the ends are the reliefs of Saints Eustachius and Theopist. Two crouching lions flank the right door. The prophet Abraham stands guard on the left.

Matera Cathedral has a Latin cross plan and three naves. The aisles are divided by arcades supported by ten ornate columns. Inside are a 13th-century Byzantine fresco of the Madonna della Bruna and Child by painter Rinaldo da Taranto, relics of Saint John of Matera, 60 carved choir stalls, and the sculpture Nativity Scene by Altobello Persio.

The wooden ceiling is decorated with three paintings by Calabrian artist Battista Santoro. The stucco decorations are covered in gold leaf. Considerable restoration work has been done to strengthen the medieval trusses and cornices. In March 2016, the Cathedral was re-opened for worship.

The incredible Chapel of the Annunciation, dating back to the 16th century, should not be missed. It is near the last chapel on the left. It has a coffered ceiling and niched walls. The chapel houses the statue of the Virgin Mary and the Angel on the altar, flanked by Saint Roch and Catherine of Alexandria. Above all this is a lunette with a pieta.

Palombaro Lungo Cistern is more than a ordinary cistern. It has been called an underground "Water Cathedral." Located under the Vittorio Veneto Square, the Palombaro Lungo ("Long Diver") holds five million liters of rainwater and water from springs on the surrounding hills of La Nera, Lapillo, and Macamarda. The cistern is always filled. There are boat tours that explain to the visitors the history and functioning of the Palombaro Lungo.

The name "Palombaro" is thought to derive from the Latin word for a raptor that dives on its prey. It could also be from the Latin word "plumbarius," meaning water collector. "Lungo" means "long," a reference to the sheer size of the structure.

Pre-existing water caves were connected into a system to serve a burgeoning population in the 16th century. Because of the presence of people living in those caves, the Palombaro Lungo cistern was not completed until 1882. After being used for over a century, this system was abandoned in 1920 when the Apulian Aqueduct was built.

The "Diver" was rediscovered in 1991 by a group of students led by technical designer Enzo Viti. Enzo, an expert on the underground world of Matera, crossed through the cistern in a dinghy. His voyage underground made the Stones of Matera a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Visitors travel through the entire labyrinthian cistern, immersed in the atmosphere of a vast underground cathedral. The pillars, arches, apses, walls, soaring galleries, and dark, deep waters create an unforgettable experience.