Why this ride
310 km from Matera to Matera, about 6 h 02 of riding. It goes by way of Quartiere Monti, Tarentum, The Via Appia from Mesochorum to Scamnum and back through Tarentum. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian C and The Via Appia from Mesochorum to Scamnum
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 310 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 02
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian C
Matera is one of those places where the first view genuinely changes the mood of a day. You walk to the edge of the modern town, look down, and there are the Sassi: two hollows in the limestone filled with houses stacked on top of each other, their roofs serving as streets for the houses above, churches cut into the rock, staircases and alleys tumbling down to the edge of a deep ravine, the Gravina. Across the gorge, the Murgia plateau is riddled with caves and rock churches, some with Byzantine frescoes, used by monks and shepherds for over a thousand years. People have lived in these caves since prehistoric times, which makes Matera one of the oldest continuously inhabited settlements in the world.
Read the complete The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian C write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian C is where the day begins. Next is Quartiere Monti.
2. Quartiere Monti
Alberobello looks like a fairy tale for about the first thirty seconds, and then you start wondering how on earth the trulli stay up. These little round houses of limestone, with conical roofs built of flat stones stacked in rings and no mortar at all, are a building tradition unique to this corner of Puglia, and the Rione Monti quarter on the southern hill of town has the densest concentration of them anywhere, around a thousand packed along a few steep lanes.
Read the complete Quartiere Monti write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Quartiere Monti comes up about 68 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tarentum.
3. Tarentum
Taranto is a city between two seas. The old town sits on a small island between the Mar Grande, an open bay of the Gulf of Taranto, and the Mar Piccolo, an inner lagoon, connected to the mainland by bridges, including a swing bridge that opens to let warships pass into the naval base. Founded by Spartan colonists in the eighth century BC as Taras, it became one of the richest and most powerful cities of Magna Graecia, the Greek world in southern Italy, before falling to Rome.
Read the complete Tarentum write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 114 km into the recorded legs you reach Tarentum. Next is The Via Appia from Mesochorum to Scamnum.
4. The Via Appia from Mesochorum to Scamnum
The last stretch of the Via Appia ran across this flat, sun-drenched part of Puglia toward Brundisium, the port from which Romans sailed to Greece and the East. The road, begun in 312 BC from Rome, was the queen of roads, and the whole route became a UNESCO site in 2024. The section between the stations the Romans called Mesochorum and Scamnum passes near Oria and Francavilla Fontana, and while little of the original paving survives here, the line of the road still shapes the landscape, with modern roads, field boundaries and farm tracks following its course.
Read the complete The Via Appia from Mesochorum to Scamnum write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Via Appia from Mesochorum to Scamnum, about halfway. Next is back through Tarentum.
5. back through Tarentum
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tarentum write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Tarentum sits at 218 km, about halfway. Next is back through Quartiere Monti.
6. back through Quartiere Monti
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Quartiere Monti write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Quartiere Monti comes up about 242 km into the recorded legs. Next is The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian C.
7. The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian C
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian C write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian C closes the day.
Leg by leg
The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian C to Quartiere Monti
The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian C → Quartiere Monti is 68 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Quartiere Monti to Tarentum
Quartiere Monti → Tarentum is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Tarentum to The Via Appia from Mesochorum to Scamnum
Tarentum → The Via Appia from Mesochorum to Scamnum is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Via Appia from Mesochorum to Scamnum to back through Tarentum
The Via Appia from Mesochorum to Scamnum → back through Tarentum is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Tarentum to back through Quartiere Monti
back through Tarentum → back through Quartiere Monti is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Quartiere Monti to The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian C
back through Quartiere Monti → The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian C is 68 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.