Matera by Candlelight
A three-night journey to Matera, one of Italy's most extraordinary and atmospheric cities. Highlights include exploring the ancient Sassi cave dwellings, walking across the Murgia plateau for sweeping views over the stone city, and discovering contemporary art, culture and cuisine woven into centuries-old landscapes. The pinnacle is seeing Matera by candlelight. It’s a rare opportunity to see this incredible destination bathed in atmospheric ambient light - a uniquely moving experience.
Matera is one of Europe’s most extraordinary hidden cities — a place carved entirely from stone, where homes, churches and streets have been shaped over millennia into a living, breathing landscape of caves and light.
In the golden south of Italy, it feels both ancient and unexpectedly contemporary: a UNESCO World Heritage site where monastic history sits alongside bold modern art, and where daily life unfolds inside rock-cut dwellings that glow at sunset like something a very talented cinematographer arranged specifically for you.
Highlights include exploring the ancient Sassi cave dwellings, walking across the Murgia plateau for panoramic views over the city, and discovering Matera’s rich contemporary cultural scene through sculpture parks, cave museums and artist-led spaces that have absolutely no business being this good.
The journey also includes time to unwind in subterranean spa settings, long lunches in the countryside, and evenings spent dining in atmospheric restaurants carved into stone — because of course they are.
On 26 September, guests will experience Matera by candlelight — when the city transforms entirely after dark, its winding streets and cave dwellings illuminated by soft, flickering light, revealing a completely different rhythm and atmosphere. This is the kind of thing that makes you reconsider everywhere else you have ever been.
Your trip gallery
Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita
Your home for the journey is Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita, one of the most atmospheric hotels in Italy — which is saying something in a country that treats atmosphere as a basic human right.
Set within the ancient Sassi, the property is made up of restored cave dwellings that have been carefully preserved rather than redesigned. Interiors are deliberately minimal — stone, linen, candlelight and silence — allowing the history of the space to remain front and centre.
This is not a hotel that competes with its surroundings, but one that dissolves into them. Staying here feels less like checking in, and more like stepping directly into Matera’s story.
Exclusive Avandra Experiences
- Master artisan welcome — on arrival, a private demonstration in the hotel’s ancient weaving room, where one of Southern Italy’s oldest functioning looms is still in use; an introduction to Matera that no guidebook can replicate
- Private access to La Palomba Sculpture Park — a former quarry reimagined as an open-air installation space; monumental contemporary works set against raw stone in a landscape that few visitors reach
- Lunch at a countryside masseria with the owner — a former London art world figure who returned to create a rural residency for contemporary artists; a conversation as much as a meal
- Aquatio Spa, carved into ancient cisterns — a subterranean wellness space of thermal pools, saunas and cave treatments; not a hotel spa, but a genuinely historic space repurposed with great restraint
Your itinerary
- Matera by candlelight — on the evening of 26 September, the Sassi is illuminated by soft ambient glow rather than artificial light, transforming the city’s winding stone streets and cave dwellings into something intimate, cinematic and entirely unlike anywhere else in Europe
- Walking the Murgia plateau — a guided climb above the city rewards with sweeping panoramic views over one of the world’s most extraordinary urban landscapes, a cliffside cityscape carved over millennia from living rock
- A city that wears its history lightly — from monastic cave churches to bold contemporary sculpture, Matera layers thousands of years of human life into a single walkable landscape; this is a place that makes you think differently about time
Today’s highlights
- Private transfer through the Murgia plateau — the landscape doing all the heavy lifting before you’ve even unpacked
- Welcome drink in the ancient weaving room with a master artisan
- Evening at leisure in the stillness of the Sassi
Arrive into Bari Airport before transferring privately to Matera, descending through the Murgia plateau into the city’s honey-coloured stone landscape — a drive that feels less like a transfer and more like a very good opening scene.
Check into Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita and settle into the cave surroundings with a welcome drink in the ancient weaving room, where a master artisan demonstrates traditional Materan textile techniques on one of Southern Italy’s oldest functioning looms. It is, in the best possible way, not what you expected from check-in.
The evening is at leisure to unwind, settle in and take in the stillness of the Sassi.
Today’s highlights
- A guided climb to the Murgia plateau for views over a city that makes you wonder what, exactly, you’ve been doing with your own cave
- La Palomba Sculpture Park — monumental contemporary art in a former quarry, which sounds improbable and looks magnificent
- Lunch at a masseria with the owner, who left London’s art world for this; once you’ve seen it, you’ll understand completely
- Aquazio Spa: thermal pools and cave treatments in ancient cisterns — the best possible use of a cistern
- Matera by candlelight — the whole Sassi lit by soft glow after dark, including open air performances. It’s as cinematic as it sounds and uniquely movingÂ
Begin with a leisurely breakfast before setting out on a guided walk across the Granvina, climbing towards the Murgia plateau for sweeping views over Matera’s cliffside cityscape.
Continue to La Palomba Sculpture Park, a former quarry transformed into an open-air installation space featuring monumental contemporary works set against raw stone landscapes.
Lunch takes place at a nearby masseria, meeting the owner who returned from London’s art world to create a rural residency space for contemporary artists.
Return to Matera for time at Aquatio Spa, a subterranean wellness space carved into ancient cisterns, offering thermal pools, saunas and cave treatments.
As night falls, experience Matera by candlelight, when the Sassi is illuminated only by soft ambient glow — transforming the city into something entirely different, intimate and cinematic.
Dinner at Oi Mari.
Today’s highlights
- MUSMA — contemporary sculpture in extraordinary cave galleries; art that earns its setting
- Casa Ortega and TAM — artistic exile, Mediterranean light, and emerging voices
- A guided walk through the Sassi: cave churches, monastic complexes, and a city that has been reinventing itself for several thousand years without once making a fuss about it
Spend a day dedicated to Matera’s cultural and artistic landscape. Begin at MUSMA, the Museum of Contemporary Sculpture, where cave galleries and ancient cisterns house contemporary works in an extraordinary subterranean setting.
Continue to Casa Ortega, the former home of Spanish artist José Ortega, offering an intimate glimpse into artistic exile and Mediterranean creative exchange.
Visit the Tower Art Museum (TAM), a contemporary space dedicated to emerging artistic voices.
After a light lunch in town, explore the Sassi on a guided walk, uncovering monastic complexes, cave churches and the layered urban history of Matera — a city that has evolved continuously over thousands of years.
Dinner at La Talpa Restaurant.
Today’s highlights
- One last breakfast in your cave — coffee, silence, mild existential reluctance to leave
- Private transfer to Bari airport, already planning your return
What's included
TRIP INCLUDES:
- Arrival/departure transfers
- Expert guiding and chauffeur service for touring days
- Hotel on a b&b basis
- Meals and beverages
EXCLUDED:
- Flights
- Trip Insurance, health insurance
- Incidental expenses
- Add-on activities
Are you ready for this experience?
£3,500 per person
This trip is only available for Club Avandra members
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This trip is operated by Travel Seen. Itineraries subject to change and standard check in times apply. Please refer to full T&C’s here.