Railroad Alley: You Could Dream a Thousand Gorgeous Dreams & Never Dream of This

Matera is in a remote part of the Basilicata region of Puglia. You have to really want to come here. It's known as "la Città Sotterranea" (the Subterranean City) because of its neighborhoods called "Sassi" which are prehistoric troglodyte (cave dwellings) settlements carved out of stone, piled on top of each other higgly-piggly until they tower into the sky. These Sassi are the oldest continuously-inhabited area in the world, going back to Paleolithic times, when the Romans first established it in the third century BC. These dwellings are thought to be among the first ever human settlements in what is now Italy.

I didn't know any of this when I arrived on a cold, windy day, after many hours on trains with no food or bathrooms. However, one need not go far in Italy before finding a cheering bowl of pasta & a glass of local wine. At 1:00, every shop closes, every car stops, & every person goes home until 5:00, after which things slowly rev up again. Luckily I found one restaurant still open.

Chefs in Southern Italy give new meaning to the words " al dente." Before they bring your pasta, they give you a free appetizer, which is potatoes dripping with olive oil & herbs.

This restaurant was decorated with delightful photos from pasta-related movie clips

My room at a B&B is built into the side of a cave!

I step out into the patio & this is the sight that greets me

Matera, ancient city made of cave dwellings

I head out to explore the Sassi. Yikes, it's a long way down to a gorge far below, which used to be a river but is now a trickle.

Much of each structure is raw stone. Even though houses look "house-like" on the outside, they are caverns on the inside. Some are empty & the wind whistles through them & your footsteps echo on the rough cobblestones.

Oh...who's this? It's a merry 3-legged dog who decides to follow me around for 4 hours. I name him Compadre. He's mangy, but very affectionate. If I sit down, he immediately burrows into my lap.

No matter where you turn, the views are vast

Ancient people carved caves right to the precipitous edge of these high cliffs. Roll over in your bed of hay & you're face down in the gorge!

Compadre goes everywhere I go

Here's an artist's studio, where he makes miniatures. The human figures are smaller than a fingernail, made of clay.

The buildings, mostly churches, are made of paper mache.

All the churches are built into rocks & are called Rupestrian Churches

Mel Gibson filmed "Passion of the Christ" in Matera. The Last Supper scene was filmed in this room.

There used to be wild vineyards here, before they all died out because of a fungus. People dumped the grapes in carved-out vats like this one, climbed inside, & stomped on them. The liquid drained out the little holes at the bottom.

Oh boy...another vertiginous mountain to climb!

A rare sight inside the crypt area of a Rupestrian church...completely untouched frescoes

Not many people get to see these

Not all towns have the foresight (or lack of funds) to leave them unrestored. The vast passage of time feels more real when they are pale & shadowy like this.