Matera Guided Tour: Casa Grotta & Rock Church

In Casa Grotta del Casalnuovo you can experience a real house of the Sassi through its original furniture and the tools of daily use that the family that lived there used in everyday life. What are commonly called Case Grotta are real ethnographic collections, small museums with objects of common use and work from the times when the Sassi were inhabited, before the depopulation occurred in the fifties. Inside, the original rooms and furnishings of the house are reconstructed before the ancient districts were depopulated in the late 1950s.

In ancient times, as can be seen from the pastoral visit of Mgr. Saracen of 1543 – 1544, this church was named after St. Eustace. The entrance leads into a courtyard at the bottom of which opens the chapel; it is surmounted by a terracotta bas-relief, depicting the Madonna and Child. The interior has undergone various tampering, so little remains of the original structure. An imposing Baroque altar interrupts the ancient development of the crypt. The frescoes are still in good condition. Behind the altar, the ceiling is decorated with coffered panels and ornamental motifs.