Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita
Important preservation of traditional architectural heritage
Sextantio Le Grotte Della Civita, Via Civita, Matera, Province of Matera, Italy
Overview & highlights
The Sassi di Matera is the most extreme expression of the Italian Historical Minor Heritage, marked by rocky caves inhabited until the first years of the fifties. The Sassi (stone settlement) have been turned into 18 romantic boutique bedrooms, simply furnished, candlelit and calming. Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita is a cultural project born to bring hospitality experience outside the schematics, not classifiable as “stars” and far from any traditional concept of luxury, so much so that the New York Times deemed it one of “the most extraordinary destinations in the world”, the Times “one of the ten most beautiful hotels on the international scene” and the Tatler guide of Condé Nast has included among “the one hundred most beautiful hotels on the planet”. They talk about the luxury of emotions.
Location
Matera can be found in the south of Italy and is world famous because of its Sassi quarters, a stunning and well preserved example of a village where hundreds of caves were turned into dwellings, churches and palaces. A UNESCO World Heritage site since 1993, the Sassi represent a unique hamlet throughout Italy: the earliest inhabitants date back to the stone and bronze age, in the middle ages it boasted several monastic communities and later became a vibrant farming center, owing to the rich harvests from the surrounding hills and plains. The Sextantio Le Grotte della Civita project is placed in the oldest part of the Sassi quarters, the CIVITA, facing the spectacular Murgia park and its rock-hewn churches. It comprises 18 rooms (some of them exceeding 160m²) and an ancient church, the “Cripta della Civita”, now used as a common area, all renovated to retain their original features, plus two common terraces facing the Murgia National Park and the Sassi quarter.