Flying south for the winter, to Matera

on a trip to visit Francescos family in the south, we took a day trip to Matera. a Unesco World heritage site and the film set for many movies including Mel gibsons Passion of the Christ. you can see why, its beautiful and the city is build on and into the mountain

with a river winding in the valley below, its very picturesque

see across the valley the caves that were dug into the mountain

the 3 stuges, Francesco and friends, Attilio and Pino

exploring the caves, built into the mountain, they were used as houses and francescos gran can remember visiting the city when people still lived in the caves!!! most of them now are deserted and empty

this church is huge and has been closed for years because its potentially dangerous structure

beautiful balconies

its basically just jawdropping

a small museum showing the way people used to live in these caves
the animals lived in the caves too

the strange inhabitants of these caves

Attilio bought some gigantic buffalo mozarella balls

the dedicated mozarella cutter, Francesco's Uncle Elio

but the feeding frenzy managed to finish them off!
to the next adventure and beyond!