La Corte Dei Pastori Matera

“La Corte dei pastori” is a landscape b&b in the Sassi of Matera, in Italy. It’s a wonderful hotel in the centre of the ancient town. The bueautiful cave hotel began as an idea from Mimmo and Tiziana in one of the most suggestive areas of the Sassi, an artistic heritage of the UNESCO since 1993.

The B&B is located within the Caveoso area of the Sassi, in the heart of the historical part of the city, right next to the San Pietro church and at the bottom of the rock Madonna dell’Idris. From which a wonderful view can be seen, admired and experienced.

It’s all within the restructured cave with the mosaics and bizantine crosses still intact and ready to be admired, achoing ancient times ready to be rediscovered.

Mimmo and Tiziana will advice the best possible type of breakfast for your relaxation and enjoyment, along with a wide variety of historical and naturalistic itineraries, without excluding some good and healthy art and culture, of course.

Book your vacation, and keep up to date with the best offers across the year, rather for simple weekends or romantic evenings! Live the experience of the clean cave-like room, each of which are independent and have a ful bathroom and private terrace. The Corte dei Pastori guarantees privacy and tranquillity for its guests!

ROOMS & SUITES
The beautiful rooms of the B & B La Corte dei Pastori have absolute comfort. For interiors, services and sleeping areas, we offer you an extreme cleaning, rewarded by customers with honors.

Matera, in ancient times, was one of the favorite places for hermits in the medieval period. So much so that even in the structure, there are still some Byzantine crosses inside the rooms.

In fact, they are the signs of the ancient civilizations that lived in the Sassi. For example, the Greek-Oriental Crosses testify how these monastic communities have enriched the city’s artistic and cultural heritage.

THE BREAKFAST
The Breakfast Room is very characteristic because it was obtained in a cave typical of the Sassi, carved into the rock. On days with a mild climate, breakfast is also served outdoors in the garden, with the wonderful view of the Sassi. In our bed and breakfast breakfast is rich in recipes typical of the Matera tradition. A gluten-free menu is available on request.

The charming rooms of the bed & breakfast are distributed in order to have independent access, as well as absolute privacy. Each room, then, guarantees comfort, relaxation and serenity to its guests.

THE EXTERNAL COURT
In the B & B del Caveoso breakfast is full of recipes typical of the Matera tradition. A gluten-free menu is available on request. The outdoor courtyard offers the possibility to have breakfast even outdoors, overlooking the splendid panorama of Sasso Caveoso and Civita.

SERVICES
All rooms of the bed and breakfast are equipped with private bathroom, minibar and wi-fi. Each one, among other things, has a large and panoramic square in front of it. Photography for moments of relaxation or for those who love. Moreover, from the b & b’s terraces you can observe the wonderful colors of the Sassi di Matera at any time of the day.

THE CAVE OF CUCCU’
The structure’s cellar is dedicated to artistic crafts. Called the Cuccù winery for the presence of the symbolic object of the materanity and the ancient roots of this people: the whistle. It is the typical object of the inhabitants of Matera!

The traditions of craftsmanship in Matera have ancient roots. And they manifest themselves with real works of art rich in culture and mastery. The Giordano family is one of the maternal families that inherits the art of terracotta manufacturing. Rocco Giordano, Mimmo’s father, was one of the first to believe in the artistic tradition of Matera dei Sassi.

And after him the family continues to perform works like once, made of colors and ancestral legends. Today Tiziana, Mimmo’s wife elaborates characteristic cuccos with the most particular colors and shapes. You can admire them in the exhibition room of the b & b located near the acceptance.

THE HISTORY OF THE CUCÙ
A typical object of prehistoric origin, the whistle of Matera is probably the first sonic toy that dates back to very ancient times. Civilizations already used it in ages before Christ, and in fact small clay whistles were found in graves of children from the Greek Great Age.

The traditional maternal whistle depicts a rooster, symbol of strength and virility. He was often exposed outside the houses as a defense against malefics. The sound produced by the figure produces two tones, this has determined the dialectal name of “cuccù” because it recalls the song of the cuckoo.

The whistle then over time assumed an important meaning in the courtship between man and woman. In fact, the man in conquering the beloved woman could manifest his love by giving a cuccù, if the woman refused it, he also refused the court of the man against him.

Moreover, the more the whistle was large and full of bigger friezes it had to be the love for one’s woman and the offer of material wealth that the lover wanted to give. The whistles are roughly two different types: they can be air and water.

The air ones work by blowing inside and opening and closing with the use of the fingers, as you would do for a flute, the holes on the back of the drawn figure. For those with water, of different shape, a small cavity is filled in it and then blowing to emit a trilling sound. Depending on the amount of liquid introduced the whistle will give off different sounds.

HUMAN HERITAGE
This city was once dubbed as a national shame when it was publicly discovered, and yet now is considered a valuable part of human heritage.

After World War II, around the 50s, the then Italian minister Alcide de Gasperi proposed the “Revitalisation of the Sassi” law, which was meant to evacuate the citizens from the historical areas to the new districts that had been newly built especially for them.

De Gasperi simply couldn’t allow a life at the limits of human dignity to continue on in those caves after so many centuries. Thus, for nearly thirty years, the Sassi remained abandoned and its inhabitants thrived comfortably in the new areas, with newspapers across the country praising De Gasperi for cleansing Italy’s shame from the country.

Things remained unchanged until 1993 when, thanks to the architect Pietro laureano, the city was proposed and accepted to become a humanitarian heritage from the UNESCO.

Life among the streets suddenly had a new meaning, with the Sassi slowly but surely flooding again with life, except this time with running water, a sewage system, electricity, gas and heating to allow a more comfortable lifestyle.

Today, Matera welcomes visitors from all over the world. It’s become the center of appreciation from famous directors, artists, and more to shoot movies, expose their art, or simply surrender to the sheer beauty of the city.

MATERA
Dubbed as “The City of Mankind”, this section of the canyon known as “The Gravina” has been inhabited since the Paleolithic era, and its inhabitants haven’t left since.

Slowly but surely, they started to dig the soft calcarenitic stone – the matieral originating from the sea — by hand to finally transform the caves into more urban areas, which have existed since prehistory that still show the sins of those bygone eras, along with a valuable artistic heritage.

People who have lived through plagues, thirst, famine and more were able to survive until today, where the Sassi have finally been bestowed with the comforts of modern life.

EXPERIENCE IN THE CAVE
The experience of sleeping in the B&B of the Sassi of Materais unique and unforgettable. The rooms are dug along the side of a massive rock that looms over the main square of the historical centre, and its tip is the rocky church of the Idris.

It’s like jumping back to the past, where the atmosphere, the rooms, the air and more gives our guests the feeling of being in a primordial era where the sands of time have stopped.

The court on its very front faces a panoramic view that you won’t find anywhere else, with a terrace that’s perfect to have discussions with the perfect surrounding unreal view that will fill the air with buzzing electricity for wonderful ideas, and replentish your soul, immersed in the silence of an ancestral nature, the peace of the senses, and a disarming charm.

Many are the places to stay in the Sassi, but the Corte dei Pastori gives a whole new meaning to the word “vacation”, “time management” and quiet moments”. A room in stone to view Matera from a whole new perspective, and immerge one’s self in a strangely familiar-tasting past.

Travellers are seen as family, to us, and are welcomed with warmth and served with love. We spoil them from the moment they step in, to moving the bags and parking cars, all the way until the check-out.

We try and give our best and make you feel at home. Sleeping in our rooms dug through stone will be more than a one-nighter. Join us. You’ll want to come back here to be happy again, and we’ll remember.

THE TOWN OF CARLO LEVI 
In his book “Christ stopped at Eboli”, author Carlo Levi described the troglodyte lifestyle of the city’s inhabitants in 1943/44. A literal life in caves, where large families of ten people live in a thirty-meter square area among their own livestock like mules, chickens, cats, dogs, and more.

The hygienic, economical and human conditions were at the limits of human survival, without even the comfort of electricity, running water or a sewage system that would have been inconceivable at the time.

The people kept on living in such dire situations for millennia until the 1970s, where after they evacuated from the caves to live in the then newly built modern districts, which truly flourished from the 90s until now.

At long last, the people of Matera were given clean a water and sewage system, electricity, and de-humidifying systems. The current home of the bed and breakfast belongs to the Giordano family, inherited by their own ancestors.

Rocco Giordano, father of Domenico, current owner of the B&B, is a talented artisan, well known for his hand-made terracotta works, such as the cucù’s, water whistles, and vases.

To this very day, Rocco has a workshop where he and his sons keep giving life to traditional works, all enriched in a unique atmosphere thanks to the position, the outside court and the rooms that render this as one of the most fascinating and hospitable areas of Matera.

Rooms: 4

Price: from 105 EUR per night

Source: www.materaitalycavehotel.com