HOTEL REVIEW
THIS PAGE AND OPPOSITE: Sextantio le Grotte della Civita’s eighteen rooms are spacious and variously hidden under powerful archways or open and full of light. Each is individualised according to its existing architectural frame. Indigenous materials create seating, beds, light fixtures, bathing areas and kitchenettes in some rooms, composing an accommodation experience that is entirely unique
linens, often plundered from days-gone-by
dowries, and had them hand-stitched into the extraordinary bedding. Berg’s intensive restoration dreams reached fruition thanks to Swedish-Italian philanthropist and entrepreneur, Daniele Kihlgren coming on board. She had read about Sextantio’s archaeological preservation work with his Albergo Diffuso project in Abruzzo, and approached him to finance her plans in the Sassi di Matera. With his work in the Apennine mountain villages, Kihlgren’s philosophy was to use only the original fabric where possible and when renovating employ contemporary local materials. “We remain faithful to the original uses of the buildings,” Kihlgren has said. “And rather than cover up the marks of time, we retain them to tell the story of the buildings and the lives lived in them.”
Such sentiments and sensitivity also
form the bedrock of Le Grotte della Civita. Traditional techniques and local craftsmen were used throughout the overhaul. Nothing appears modern-day apart from the bathroom
124 SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2011
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fittings, and even these designer fittings from Italian manufacturer Agape are incorporated harmoniously into the stone walls of the caves. Five-star frills and flashy mod-cons are
nowhere to be seen. There’s no pool at the scorching-in-the-summer experiential escape that is Le Grotte. The feeling of ‘luxury’ comes from being somewhere unlike anywhere on Earth. Utterly timeless, here the furniture – and the atmosphere – is centuries old. Haunting and otherworldly, the effect of Le Grotte della Civita is soul-stirring. If it weren’t for the subtle flickering glow of a candle, we’d never have been able to distinguish where this hideaway had been carved into the sand- coloured volcanic rock. Once you’ve swerved from the newer part of Matera town, and into the Sassi, there’s no fancy foyer or shiny plaques to alert you where to wander up from the winding lane at the bottom of the stone caves. The bedrooms – each individual – are scattered into the rock face. Handed heavy hand-sized iron keys, one
imagines Rapunzel’s tower to have been locked with the same clunky devices.
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