Matera

Matera needs 2 days: the Sassi, two neighborhoods of houses carved directly into the limestone rock and inhabited almost continuously since the Paleolithic, are nearly the sole reason to visit, with viewpoints across the canyon offering a full view. April-October is best. It's mid-priced by Italian standards. It was considered a «national disgrace» for its residents' extreme poverty until the 1950s, when the Italian government forcibly evacuated much of the population; today, after a turnaround that made it a European Capital of Culture in 2019, many of those same caves are boutique hotels.