AREA 8

Nice bar with special vibe. Cocktails are delicious. Service is excellent

Well, this was an incredible surprise, a gem hidden in this gem of the city! It is one of the best cocktails places we’ve been around the world We were walking around beautiful Matera, going past tens of lovely restaurants and bistros, when we saw Area 8. At first we only stopped to take some photos, as we instantly liked the vibe, but those seconds taking photos sold us and decided to stay. Best decision! The whole place is a vibe and each tiny detail is well thought, from the placemats with slang to use in Area 8, to a Mickey Mouse plate, the cocktail in mug, the funny coasters, all the cute and cool wall decorations. We ordered an appetiser platter for 2 and were not disappointed. All classic dishes - cheese bullets, guacamole, hummus and burrata were reinvented with surprising flavours. The bread in a mushroom shape was also delicious. The atmosphere was incredible, music was eclectic and perfectly chosen. When in Matera Area 8 is a must!

Such a good place to visit in Matera, so lively, drinks were amazing my cocktail even came with a lipstick. We went here before a dinner reservation and ended up going back until late. Also the DJ in the main room was amazing so much energy !

Cool place, cocktails were tasty but a bit expensive. It gets pretty crowded later at night.

My fiancé and I visited here on our last night in Matera. A lively atmosphere & good selection of cocktails. Food was also delicious, Italian with a modern twist. Our waiter Casio was a great host, he spent time talking to us and made us feel extremely welcome!

A very cool vibe. We went for both aperitivo/ light meal as well as in the evening when the place becomes more of a bar. Interesting menu options and drinks - the b-tschips are the best!

Great local spot with a nice atmosphere, good drinks, friendly service — and amazing music! We even downloaded the playlist, and it became part of our Italy road trip :-)

Pretty good cocktails, great vibe. Music is great but the vibe really sets the mood for this place. Manhattan was alright, could be much better. But their Spritz cocktails are very good.

Sweet, beautiful Matera. A place that seems made by a careless god, but which actually has more planning and thought than you might think, all it takes is a visit to the ungrounded cisterns to understand that. We discovered areaotto our first evening in Matera, after dropping our bags off at our hotel in the sassi, we wanted a place to stop and have a drink and ended up staying here much longer than we imagined. Jutting off the side of a wall, during the day it is a communications agency, and night it turns into a bar and sort of disco. A dj plays cool tunes from the back of an ape vehicle, vintage and mis-matches chairs pepper the terrace. We settled into some old cinema chairs and ordered a moscow mule and a negroni sbagliato infused with ginger. Hot damn, these drinks were spot on, and for the cheap price 6€. My moscow mule was made with true ginger beer and in a copper mug. While they off an evening aperitivo buffet, we ordered off the a la carte menu, fava and chicory purée, a few bruschetta, and a mixed cheese platter. All were well-presented and tasted fabulous. We ordered tiramisu for dessert, which was made in a deconstructed style complete with your very own 'mezza-tazza' moka mug, so cool! The interior of areaotto is like a dream, a shabby-chic design one at that. The owner clearly put a lot of effort and love into this place and it shows. Mikaela the owner even took us to visit the secret back room, made in a speakeasy style complete with a James Bond mechanical pop-up bar. I could not love this place more if I tried, well-done! A very prime example of just how far this once-abandoned town considered the 'shame of Italy' has come.