On our drive to the Amalfi Coast, we stopped for lunch at a small town called Matera. Matera is three cities in one, the New City, Medieval, and below both, “Sassi” the original Troglodyte City below the ground; Troglodytes are people that live below ground. As normal we ignored the New City to wander through Sassi and the Medieval quarter. The Troglodyte City was the point of interest. It’s built on the upper area of a ravine, and you can see from the photos in the gallery that the buildings are clustered like a beehive on top of each other. The most interesting building is the Church, carved into the rock and is the highest point of Sassi, very similar to the early Catacomb Church Lisa and I saw in Malta during our visit there in 2005. Above Sassi on the ridgeline stands the medieval quarter with its small cluster of alleyways and churches, which after the climb up form the ravine provided welcome shade from the hot sun. Matera is still not on the main tourist track so now is a good time to visit, as I’m sure in time it will be overrun with tourists.