Piazzetta Pascoli Square

The panoramic terrace overlooking Matera

Next to the seventeenth-century Palazzo Lanfranchi, home to the National Museum of Medieval and Modern Art of Basilicata, stands the small Piazzetta Pascoli square in Matera. Dedicated to the famous poet Giuseppe Pascoli, who started out as a high school teacher in this town in 1882, this square is one of the best vantage points for admiring the Sassi di Matera, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993. The views become even more impressive in the evening when, just after sunset, the city lights dotted around the city are switched on, almost like a starry sky. 

Alongside the bars, ice-cream parlours and restaurants that provide moments of rest or relaxation, the square features a contemporary art sculpture: the three-metre-high bronze “Drop of Water” by Japanese artist Kengiro Azuma. A symbol of purity and simplicity, it recalls, through the contrast between the material used (solid state) and the reference to water (liquid state), the relationship between the city carved into the rock and the phenomena of weathering.