What to eat in Matera

Matera's cooking is peasant food in the full sense: it grew out of whatever was left over, when nothing went to waste. Stale bread turns into a salad, the pasta is kneaded from durum-wheat semolina without egg, and peppers are sun-dried then fried rather than kept in oil. The bread itself carries a name and a protected label.

Four dishes that belong only to this corner of Italy

• Cialledda (€12) — a cold salad of stale Matera bread, tomato, onion and olive oil, born as a way to waste nothing. In summer it is eaten as a main course.
• Orecchiette with turnip tops (€12) — small ear-shaped pasta of durum-wheat semolina, no egg, with the slightly bitter tops of turnip greens. An everyday dish on the Basilicata table.
• Peperoni cruschi (€9) — sweet peppers dried in the sun, then flash-fried in oil until crisp and brittle. Served as a starter, on their own or with eggs.
• Pane di Matera (€12/kg) — a durum-wheat semolina loaf baked in a wood oven, with a thick crust that keeps it fresh for days. It carries the PGI label, so it is sold beyond Basilicata too, but here it is baked at the source.

Where to eat

A main course in a restaurant or trattoria runs around €12–14, no drinks. Restaurants are spread across both Sassi and the plateau above them; the ones inside the ravine itself charge more, for a dining room looking straight at the caves. Bread is bought separately, at a bakery, and keeps for days if wrapped.

1 dayWhen lunch lands in the one-day plan, between Casa Grotta and Palombaro Lungo:Matera in 1 day →

Where to stayRestaurants near the cave hotel, and how far the walk into the centre is:Where to stay in Matera →

When to goWhen restaurant terraces stay open longer, and when it is warm enough to eat outside:The best time to visit Matera →