In the heart of Italy's ancient troglodyte city of Matera, the haunting melody of an aulos – a double-piped wind instrument from ancient Greece – echoes through a vaulted breakfast room. Guests, dressed in traditional chitons, fall silent as the musician plays, surrounded by mosaic floors, flickering sconces, and decorated vases. This is not a scene from a film set, but the daily reality at Moyseion, a groundbreaking hotel-museum that has opened fully this summer.
A Living Work of Art in the Sassi
Carved into the limestone hillside of Basilicata, Matera is famed for its sassi – ancient cave dwellings. Moyseion occupies a series of these restored caves near the city centre, the brainchild of owner Antonio Panetta, a local artist and lawyer turned hotelier. His vision, four years in the making, was to create an immersive experience of history where archaeology, myth, and hospitality combine.
Every detail is meticulously crafted to transport visitors to the era of Magna Graecia, when this part of southern Italy was ruled by ancient Greeks from the 8th to the 6th century BC. Replicas of museum artefacts, from urns to jewellery, are on display. The handmade furniture, including three-legged tables and wall-mounted torches, copies designs seen on ancient pottery.
From Cave Dwellings to a Sanctuary of Waters
The hotel features 16 stone dwellings. Eight are inspired by ancient Greece, with high wooden beds, natural fabrics, and cabinets displaying items from daily life. They are spacious and calming, with modern conveniences like mirrors and hairdryers carefully concealed. Other rooms reflect pre-Greek periods.
In the basement, the Sanctuary of Waters is a multilevel spa dedicated to the goddess Demeter. This moodily lit space features pools, statues of deities, and stone basins based on Hellenistic thermal complexes, with floor mosaics replicating archaeological finds.
History Brought to Life by a Passionate Team
What truly sets Moyseion apart is its young in-house team of archaeologists, classicists, musicians, and performers. They bring the experience to life with a palpable passion for history. Staff collaborated with international specialists in ancient music, choreography, and cuisine to ensure authenticity. It took musician Davide a year to master the circular breathing needed to play the aulos.
Guests become part of the action, participating in daily rituals and symposiums. The experience feels magical rather than gimmicky, as one wanders in a chiton while a musician plays a specially created trigonon, a small triangular harp.
The city of Matera itself is a historical marvel. Believed to be the third oldest city in the world, after Aleppo and Jericho, its dramatic location on the edge of a ravine has made it a film location for productions from The Passion of the Christ to the James Bond film No Time to Die.
By the 1950s, the sassi were declared uninhabitable due to poverty and unsanitary conditions, and over 15,000 people were relocated. The caves stood empty until the late 1980s, when restoration began. Unesco world heritage status was granted in 1993, and Matera was a European Capital of Culture in 2019.
At Moyseion, even breakfast – akratisma – is an experience. The menu, curated by food anthropologists and historians, features barley salad with pomegranate, various breads, cheeses, and cakes like melitoutta and plakous. The hotel has also started hosting courses in ancient music and dance, working with the Lotos Lab research centre in Cambridge.
As owner Antonio Panetta explains, "People don’t want to just observe history and stare at things in a museum, they want to experience it in a real way. When guests come here, they soon realise this is not Disney. The past is still alive in our souls."
