The Sassi of Matera and the Murgia Materana Park
Departure dates on request all year round with a minimum of 2 participants (starting any day of the week).
The Murgia Park was established in 1990 with the name of Natural Historical Archaeological Regional Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera. it is, with the Sassi di Matera, in the Unesco world heritage list. today it is, among the spectacular rocky landscapes of Italy, the one that best testifies the ancient relationship between man and nature in the south of the country. The park covers about 7000 hectares of surface and is located between the municipalities of Matera and Montescaglioso in Basilicata, a few kilometers away from the border with Puglia. It is characterized by a soft rock- the so-called “tuff” -which has played an essential role in the shapes. shapes assumed by the landscape, drawing cliffs, valleys, and caves used by the man who settled there since prehistoric times. There are caves of the Paleolithic, villages dating back to the Neolithic, the Bronze, and Iron Ages, all prehistoric sites that tell the human presence, a presence made mostly by shepherds and herders. Always about this world, there are also farms, sometimes fortified, the characteristic sheep pens called “Jazzi”, cisterns, drinking troughs, and wells. A varied and wild nature is the one that characterizes the Murgia Park, crossed by the Bradano River and the Gravina and Jesce streams: the Park includes about 1,200 botanical entities (one-sixth of the entire national flora), some of them are very rare. Evidence of the surprising natural richness is also the abundant fauna which- in addition to foxes, hares, porcupines, wolves, wild boars, and wild cats-includes important birds of prey such as the red kite, the lanner, the buzzard, the Egyptian vulture, and, above all, the hawk lesser kestrel, the small bird of prey symbol of the Park.
