Best Dog-Friendly Parks & Green Spaces in Matera

An 8 000 hectare regional rock church park created in 1990 directly across the Gravina ravine from the Sassi, covering the karst plateau of the Murge with 150+ rupestrian rock-hewn chapels carved by Byzantine monks from the 8th-13th centuries, deep canyons, prehistoric caves and Neolithic settlements. The Belvedere Murgia Timone overlook (530 m elevation) faces Sasso Caveoso head-on and is the panoramic viewpoint used in The Passion of the Christ (2004) and No Time to Die (2021). Free public access year-round; off-leash hiking on all the marked trails (Sentiero del Murgecchia, Sentiero della Murgia Timone, Jazzo Gattini visitor centre loop).

A 1.2 hectare formal late-19th-century public garden laid out on the south flank of Piazza Vittorio Veneto, the main square of the Piano upper town, directly above the lip of Sasso Barisano. Mature holm oaks, pine trees, gravel paths, benches, a children's playground and a panoramic terrace at the south end that opens straight onto the Sasso Barisano below and the Belvedere Murgia Timone across the ravine. Free public access year-round; leashed dogs welcome on all paths and on the panoramic terrace; the children's playground is fenced and pet-free.

A 4 hectare hilltop public park around the unfinished 16th-century Aragonese castle of Conte Giancarlo Tramontano, started in 1501 and abandoned in 1514 when the count was assassinated by the Materans for excessive taxation. Pine and holm oak woodland, gravel paths around the three massive cylindrical towers, panoramic vistas south over the Sassi and east over the Gravina ravine and the Murgia Materana opposite. Free public access year-round; leashed dogs welcome on all paths and around the castle ruins.