L'Hotel in Pietra, Matera, Basilicata, southern Italy - Explore & Book

"Perched high up in the sassi (Matera’s old town quarters, built into and over caves), a converted 13th-century Benedictine church houses L’Hotel in Pietra. The reception-breakfast room occupies the sometime nave, with soaring ceiling and looping tall arches. All of the characterful rooms are different, imaginative conversions of the unusual spaces the old buildings provide. Most have extraordinary views, too - over the town and across to the cathedral. The peace is palpable: the sassi lanes are too narrow and stepped for vehicles.Down in the town centre, there's also a beautiful apartment, complete with exposed stonework and lofty windows. In both locations, a mix of French, Italian and Brazilian furniture decorates, lovely solid pieces arranged with a pared-down simplicity. Walls are pale exposed stone, a warm gold. Modernist touches marry well with the antiquity, such as large low, wood-edged double beds and thick glass partitions. Highs A remarkable place to stay in a remarkable city - Matera is utterly beautiful and the hotel is so unique and full of characterBeautiful, pared-down design, with antiques and carved-wood furniture set against sandstone arches, cave interiors and thick glassA laid-back relaxed atmosphere and the self-catering Loft 79 apartment is ideal for more independent travellersUtter tranquillity - the sassi are interconnected via tiny lanes unsuitable for trafficOwners are proud of their hotel and eager to pleaseThe rooms, hotel and whole town is impossibly romantic Lows The Standard Single (1001) is extremely tiny and snug - but the room has a good viewNot for the athletically challenged - most rooms have steep or uneven stairs and some have ladders, plus there are steps to reach the entrance of the hotelThe nearest on-street parking is 80m away; their private garage is 300m away, but this is the nature of staying in the sassiThis is cave living, so the atmosphere may feel a little damp at times - worth it for us, but guests with respirotary problems may feel otherwise" - Abigail Blasi