The Corridors: From Naples to Puglia, sea, charming villages and traditions

Naples lives with overwhelming energy, stretched along one of the world's most famous bays with Vesuvius as its backdrop. The historic centre, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a labyrinth of alleys hung with laundry, lined with baroque churches, votive shrines and artisan workshops. Spaccanapoli cuts the city in a straight line between the cathedral, keeper of the blood of San Gennaro, and the chapels of the Pio Monte della Misericordia with their Caravaggios. Beneath the streets lies a subterranean Naples of cisterns and tunnels, while the National Archaeological Museum holds the treasures of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Along the sea, the Caracciolo promenade, Castel dell'Ovo and the Chiaia district offer elegant strolls. Pizza was born here, and Neapolitan cuisine — sfogliatelle, babà, fried street food — is pure joy. From Vomero, reached by funicular, the city unfolds in a breathtaking panorama. Chaotic and theatrical, Naples seduces with its unfiltered authenticity.

Matera is famous worldwide for the Sassi, ancient districts of dwellings carved into the limestone rock, inhabited continuously since prehistory and declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Sasso Caveoso and the Sasso Barisano climb in a maze of lanes, stairways and frescoed rock churches, overlooking the deep canyon of the Gravina. The Murgia Timone viewpoint, on the opposite slope, grants the most striking view over the whole settlement, especially at sunset and at night, when lights set the stone aglow. After years of abandonment and a story of redemption, Matera is today a lively cultural destination, with hotels scattered through the Sassi and a Lucanian cuisine of bread, crisp peppers and orecchiette. Unique and cinematic, Matera moves visitors with its timeless atmosphere.