An 8000-year-old treasure rich with secrets, sounds, and sights of the Sassi skyline, the hilltown of southern Italy is a UNESCO World Heritage site boasting one of the most inviting hotels in the world.
Combining primitive authenticity with flickering candle-lit alcoves, soothing gem-like white interiors and modern amenities, the five-star Sextantio Le Grotte Della Civita is a time capsule–18 rooms and suites in beguiling, stone-walled caves that celebrate impeccably restored art.
“Ravaged by malaria in the 1950s, we brought the Sassi hillside (teeming with Paleolithic cave dwellings) back to life, turning all the natural elements into luxurious accommodations,” says Daniele Kihlgren, the chief creative force behind the Sextantio and the albergo diffuso movement. “We hope to save other abandoned Italian sites…to utilize scattered structures throughout a town, instead of one dominant, monolithic building for a hotel.” Already distinguished by its heralding preservation and sustainability–”a social project” using a minimalist palette with hidden lighting, plain furnishings, or a refined “simplicity” to highlight the dramatic surroundings– the Sextantio pays tribute to ancient arches, vaults, recesses, centuries-old wood, and grottone (expansive caves).
It is still luxury. Certainly the untraditional sort. But that adds to Matera’s intoxicating allure–its evoking mysteries and romance throughout countless millennia.
By Edward Kiersh
https://www.sextantio.it/legrottedellacivita/matera/
