Sul Telegraph: 21 places in Italy you never thought to visit (but really should)
Planning an Italian holiday in 2018 but want to escape the tourist hordes? Then head instead to one of these lesser-known gems
Sul sito inglese del The Telegraph: “Around fifty years ago, Matera was one of the poorest towns in western Europe, with some 20,000 people crammed into the sassi. A honeycomb of ancient and wretched cave dwellings that riddled the ravine below the town. Cleared in the Sixties, the caves had remained derelict until recently, but now some 2,000 people have returned. Along with cafés, galleries, restaurants and, above all, hotels, sparking a renaissance in Matera’s fortunes.
“But even without the caves – which Unesco describes as ‘the most outstanding example of a troglodyte settlement in the Mediterranean’ – the rest of the town would be an unusual and beautiful place to visit; a glorious, honey-stoned medieval vision of tiny alleys, sleepy squares, and sweeping views over a strangely empty but enchanting landscape. Restaurants here serve traditional food you’ll find nowhere else, and the 150 or more cave churches, hidden among the sassi and the surrounding countryside, contain some of Italy’s oldest frescoes outside the catacombs of Rome.”