Italy Web Guide & Travel - Holiday Accommodation, Hotel Rooms, Self Catering Apartments and Villas for rent or sale in South Italy, Food Wine and Italy Travel, Tailor made & Relax Holidays
BOOK HOTEL ROOMS & ACCOMMODATIONS HERE NOW! Hotel Rooms & Accommodations with Fast Secure Reservations engine Provided by our Partner Booking.com @no extra costs! South Italy and most of its little villages, is an area so little known to the European tourism yet in a delightful land wealthy of natural beauties, such as the Arch of Arcomagno, a natural arch of rock, entrance to an attractive coved beach, with calm turquoise sea; the Faraglioni of Capri, beautiful sea rocks in the sea of Capri, one of many in the Amalfi Coast; or the Etna Volcano, still active and one of Sicily's biggest tourist attractions. History and architecture are also very important factors of southern Italy's culture and tourist attractions, like the temple ruins of Agrigento - Sicily; Capri offering one of Italy's most beautiful piazzas (town square) in the middle of town, Piazzetta, completely closed up, giving the impression of a courtyard, surrounded by many shops and cafes and the Torre dell'Orologio (Tower of Clock); or the over 40 mt. high statue of the Christ in Maratea situated on a hill over 300 mt. high offering a most breath-taking site over the port of Maratea. Another great piece of southern Italy history, from Calabria to be exact, is the Bronzi di Riace: two magnificent bronze, human-size, male statues, found in the gulf of Riace, now showing in the museum of Reggio Calabria, representing the Greek conception of heroism and beauty for their classical composure and dynamic vitality. Great tourist attractions for both rural and coastal holidays are also the town of Rivello, based on the graceful Basilicata mountains with its typical hystorical houses that can be found in all old parts of most of southern Italy's towns, and the Trulli, typical Apulia houses with cone shaped roofs. Not to mention the delicious cuisine and friendly people, all part of a world waiting to be explored and taken advantage of.
BOOK HOTEL ROOMS & ACCOMMODATIONS HERE NOW! Hotel Rooms & Accommodations with Fast Secure Reservations engine Provided by our Partner Booking.com @no extra costs! South Italy and most of its little villages, is an area so little known to the European tourism yet in a delightful land wealthy of natural beauties, such as the Arch of Arcomagno, a natural arch of rock, entrance to an attractive coved beach, with calm turquoise sea; the Faraglioni of Capri, beautiful sea rocks in the sea of Capri, one of many in the Amalfi Coast; or the Etna Volcano, still active and one of Sicily's biggest tourist attractions. History and architecture are also very important factors of southern Italy's culture and tourist attractions, like the temple ruins of Agrigento - Sicily; Capri offering one of Italy's most beautiful piazzas (town square) in the middle of town, Piazzetta, completely closed up, giving the impression of a courtyard, surrounded by many shops and cafes and the Torre dell'Orologio (Tower of Clock); or the over 40 mt. high statue of the Christ in Maratea situated on a hill over 300 mt. high offering a most breath-taking site over the port of Maratea. Another great piece of southern Italy history, from Calabria to be exact, is the Bronzi di Riace: two magnificent bronze, human-size, male statues, found in the gulf of Riace, now showing in the museum of Reggio Calabria, representing the Greek conception of heroism and beauty for their classical composure and dynamic vitality. Great tourist attractions for both rural and coastal holidays are also the town of Rivello, based on the graceful Basilicata mountains with its typical hystorical houses that can be found in all old parts of most of southern Italy's towns, and the Trulli, typical Apulia houses with cone shaped roofs. Not to mention the delicious cuisine and friendly people, all part of a world waiting to be explored and taken advantage of.


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Matera - Travel and Holiday to south Italy, accommodation by the sea or rural

MATERA - BASILICATA - SOUTH ITALY

Matera, capital of the province, whose extraordinary past is full of history, art, culture and wise sayings, will astonish any visitor.

The ditched villages of the Murgia plateau and the immense archaeological heritage belonging to this enchanting town and preserved in the National Museum D. Ridola, witness the permanent presence of mankind from the Stone Age up to present times. This is the town of the "Sassi", the ancient quarters that, shrouded in archaic charm, are an example of an incomparable urban structure and that are now all part of the world heritage, bestowed on the area by Unesco.
Town of the one hundred and more rock-hewn churches, revealing Latin and Byzantine frescoes, inspired by the mysticism of solitary monks and embodied in religious art.

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Matera is one of the most ancient towns in the world because of the continual presence of mankind from the Paleolithic age up to present times.
An archaeologist from Matera, Domenico Ridola, after whom the National Museum has been named, supplied copious stratigraphic documentation especially regarding the different historic periods of the town from the Early Iron Age up to the Roman and Greek periods.
In 664 Matera became part of the Longobard dukedom, in 938 it was sacked by the Saracens and in 1043 it was dominated by the Normans when Guglielmo Braccio di Ferro was nominated the Count of Matera and Apulia.
After the Norman domination, Matera underwent the Hohenstaufen domination. In 1497 Giancarlo Tramontano, who came from Naples, became the Count of Matera but he was killed in 1514 by the insurgent populace who could not bear his persistent cruelty any longer.
In 1663 Matera, that had already been annexed to the "Terra d'Otranto", became part of Basilicata as the capital of the region until 1806. Matera has been the capital of the province since 1927.