Where to stay in Matera

The cave-city of Matera, Basilicata

In 1998, Raffaelle and Carmela Cristallo bought up a string of homes in the Sasso Barisano, the more rehabilitated and residential of the two valleys, and converted the rambling property into the Hotel Sassi(Via San Giovanni Vecchio 89, tel. +011-39-0835-331-009, www.hotelsassi.it, €78-€90, from $67 online » book). Of the 22 rooms, only three are full-fledged caves, plus one other that's installed in an old cistern carved from the tufa. But even many of the more modern façade-rooms have at least one wall of honey-colored raw bedrock.

In the few rooms cursed by four boringly modern walls, at least you're distracted by the private balcony and its sweeping panorama of the Sasso Barisano, the buildings thrown into gorgeous relief at night by warm yellow floodlights set at their bases. You can even live like the Flintstones for $20 if you book a shared bed in one of the hotel's two hostel-like rooms (one with four beds, the other with sixteen).

Albergo Sextantio Le Grotte Della Civita - The Sextantio crew works harder than anyone in Italy at ensuring authenticity in its rehabilitation of historic properties—in this case, 18 rooms installed in the cave-houses of Matera's Sasso Barisano neighborhood. Breakfast is in a 13th century church. Via Civita 28. tel. +0835-332-744. www.sextantio.it. » book

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