Contrasts

In the past twenty- four hours, we have experienced two cities that couldn’t be anymore different! Matera is in the deep South of the Italian peninsula while Bologna is geographically closer to Switzerland than it is to Matera. We spent our last day in Matera without any specific itinerary; we just wandered a bit and tried to minimize the number of steps we needed to climb. Instead of spending more time in the Sassi neighborhood (with the renovated cave dwellings, where we are staying), we wandered up to where the locals hang out- in the upper part of town. Honestly, there’s not much to see in the Sassi neighborhood, once you get over the initial awe. The end of October marks the end of tourist season and, and as there are few of them, most of the shops and restaurants are either closed or open on a limited schedule. It’s a bit like walking ( of more like climbing) through a ghost town – probably fun if you’re a mountain goat but got mere humans it can be torture! At the top of town, there are several piazzas and broad streets for a passeggiata, a fair number of outdoor cafes and shops that sell more than the typical tourist kitsch.

There are real people going about their daily routine.

There was an interesting art exhibit about food and several interesting outdoor sculptures.

An interesting (and free) exhibit on the history of pandemics was open.

It described the history of all the global pandemics (albeit in Italian only) with some really interesting exhibits.

We spent a couple of hours just walking around. It was nice to not huff and puff and watch every step for a change!

Afterward, we returned to the warm and humid sauna of the cave to relax before our farewell group dinner, ironically at the same restaurant where we had dined the evening prior. (Baccanti). It was a fixed menu but the food was tasty and well presented though a bit on the pedestrian side.

We left early the next day for Bologna. This entailed lugging suitcases down 108 steep steps at 7:30 am, piling into a taxi with seven others for a one hour ride to Bari where we boarded a high speed train to Bologna. With the intervening 10 stops, it took 5 hours 45 minutes to reach our destination, and it was on time. I was surprised that social distancing was nonexistent on the train to Bologna as two weeks earlier, our train from Rome to Naples had every other seat empty. Everyone did wear masks though!

In contrast to the touristy almost Disney-like ambiance of Matera, Bologna is a bustling city that tourists have avoided. There are tons of people, including a large population of university students, walking around, window shopping, enjoying aperitivo. There are few if any kitschy souvenir shops. Bologna is a prosperous city whereas Matera sits in the poorest region of Italy, relying now on tourism for a significant portion of its income. The disparity between the rich and industrial north vs the poor and rural south is quite evident.

Of course, the history of Matera is fascinating, but in my opinion, it warrants no more than a single day’s time to get a good understanding of the city. Bologna, on the other hand, requires at least three days to get at least a superficial feel for its complexity.