Dimore dell’Idris is carved directly into the ancient rock of the Sassi — rooms hollowed from the same caves that families called home for centuries. It is an albergo diffuso, a scattered hotel where the rooms are not gathered under one roof but distributed across multiple historic buildings throughout the Sasso Caveoso.
A Story of Displacement and Return
In 1952, a Special Law forced roughly 17,000 people — two-thirds of Matera’s population — to abandon these dwellings in what was officially framed as slum clearance but amounted to the displacement of an entire community. The Sassi became a near ghost town. It wasn’t until 1986 that people were allowed to return.
The Rooms
Each room is unique — shaped by the cave it inhabits. Stone walls, vaulted ceilings, and carefully chosen design details create spaces that feel ancient and contemporary at once.
Design Details
The interiors blend the raw texture of the cave with contemporary Italian design — a dialogue between the ancient and the modern that mirrors Matera’s own story.
On our tour
You spend the first night at Dimore dell’Idris, arriving from Bari. After exploring the Sassi with guide Silvio and dining overlooking Matera’s lights, you return to sleep inside the rock.
