Matera food is simple, relying a lot of grilling and baking and making the most of the local ingredients. Until recently the area was relatively poor and as a consequence does not rely as much on meat as much as many Italian regions do. When it is served it is truly excellent. Savoury dishes are characterised by their spiciness thanks to abundant use of red peppers and local wild herbs.
Matera has a tasty selection of strong-flavoured cheeses. Try local specialities like sheeps milk cacioricotta and pecorino, casiddi made from goats milk and caciocavallo made from Padolica cows milk a breed with very ancient roots indeed.
If you like sausages then you must taste salsicce lucane which are made from pork, fennel seeds and peperoncino. By the way, lucane comes from Materas old name Lucania.
As with all parts of Italy, there are regional variations on pasta such as orecchiette dressed with cherry tomatoes, minuich (rolled tubes) or strangulapreuti (priest stranglers a kind of dumpling). However pasta is not obligatory here and cooked wholewheat grains (grano) are sometimes used in place of rice or pasta and even eaten as a dessert – grano dolce.
Vegetables include the IGP (Indicazione Geografica Protetta) beans (Fagiolo di Sarconi) and red peppers (Peperone di Senise) which feature a lot in local cooking.
Typical Matera dishes include lamb with chicory or lamb with carrot, sausage, breadcrumbs and cheese and cooked in an earthenware pot. In you are in the Potenza region then try pasta with luntruppc a kind of sausage sauce and pupazzella, small, vinegar-drenched hot peppers stuffed with parsley and anchovies.
Matera Wine
Names of Matera wine may not spring immediately to mind, and the region is relatively modest producer. But what Matera lacks in volume it makes up for in quality, making one of the finest reds in Italy Aglianico del Vulture (DOC). Produced from grapes grown on the slopes of the extinct Monte Vulture volcano, this robust, complex wine is sometimes referred to as the Barolo of the south. That should tell you something!
The Aglianico grape is Greek in origin and its name changed from Hellenica to Hellanica and finally Aglianico during the 15th century. Non- DOC wines made from it are popular in Matera, particularly around Matera.
Among white wines, the best known are Asprinio, Malvasia di Matera and Moscato.
By continuing to use the site, you agree to the use of cookies. You can change this and find out more by following this link
The cookie settings on this website are set to "allow cookies" to give you the best browsing experience possible. If you continue to use this website without changing your cookie settings or you click "Accept" below then you are consenting to this.