MORE MATERA – THE IMPORTANCE OF DONKEYS
26th October:
MY BELATED BIRTHDAY PRESENT.
There was so much more Matera to explore. This was the day we went back to do just that, and Graham bought a piece of art. We’d both been going back to admire it ever since we took that ‘taxi’ trip around the Sassi with Lolly. (Click here to take you to the taxi blog)
We’d been walking around after Andrea the Sassi-taxi driver had said his friendly farewell that day. Just off one of the upper squares of ‘old’ Matera we came across this pottery and ceramic studio. In the window were ceramic ‘Lord of the Rings’ type pieces. These were colourful and intricately worked by the young man at the desk:-Raffaele Pentasuglia at Studio D’Arte Raffaele Pentasuglia
But it was a collection of plain terra-cotta studies that drew us both.
MORE MATERA – ‘AS IT ONCE WAS’
“They are my father’s work,” the young man said. “They are mostly about characters who used to live in the Sassi. That’s where he lived until they cleared everyone out.”
I loved the group of musicians – so faithfully depicted; so lifelike – but they were 150 euros each. I felt you needed at least three. Too much to plunder from our holiday budget!
MORE MATERA – MEMORIES OF WORKING WITH A DONKEY
Then – at the back of the studio – I saw the terra-cotta model of a couple on a donkey. Weary from working in the fields, the man sat in front, with the saddlebag holding a bottle. Behind him, his wife clung on. A bundle of twigs was strapped to her back, and another of the durum wheat from which they make the delicious Matera bread. The donkey looked tired, too; patiently climbing over cobbles.
“Oh, Graham – I love this.”
“How much?” he had asked warily. It was 200 euros – but clearly worth it. With a few strokes and pits, the expressions were on the faces. The donkey looked so alive; about to step forward off its base. But our holiday money had to last.
WE MEET THE SCULPTOR – AND ENJOY IMMEDIATE RAPPORT
So we looked in on it from time to time, and I think nobody was more surprised than that young
man when we bought it.
“It’s for our wedding anniversary as well as your birthday,” said Graham.
A bonus for us: The father, who had sculpted our new acquisition, was in the studio that day. I was able to take both his hands and thank him. His son translated that the piece would be treasured. It would always remind us of the Sassi of Matera, and its story.
“Mi mamma e papa,” the father said, indicating the subjects. “And Pepino our donkey. He was an essential member of our family.”
Their likenesses now hold pride of place on our mantelpiece.
MORE MATERA SOUVENIRS
Also that day we bought a few modest souvenirs of good quality, and had a very good authentic local lunch in a small ristorante at the top of the Sassi. We chose it because it was full of locals – and oh, how we enjoyed this simple food cooked with flair. The place was called Al Falco Grillaio on the Via San Biagio. I remember that it was very affordable.
LEVI’S PENTAPTYCH PAINTING:
MORE MATERA – LOCAL LANDSCAPE – SHAMING SASSI – ROUSING RANT
Then we went into the Museo Nazionale d’Arte Medievale e Moderna della Basilicata Palazzo Lanfranchi – and were rewarded by confronting the very famous, enormous five-panelled painting by Carlo Levi himself. It demonstrated very acutely how life had been in the Sassi, and the living conditions of its starving inhabitants.
In the first picture we saw a white-faced, thin, tired mother and her many children crammed into their cave-room. They were almost swamped amongst other ragged inhabitants. The next panel showed a doctor (Carlo Levi’s sister, apparently) injecting children outside their dwellings. The scene shifted to a mother and child returning home on a laden donkey. Her toil-aged husband was walking by their side through the bare clay hills, which at that time formed most of Basilicata. The fourth, much livelier painting had a red-haired young man exhorting a crowd to form a union, or something of the sort. The background is clearly the town square of Levi’s ‘Gagliano’. It made me determined to track this place down and visit it. Last of all were some grey figures that almost melted and disappeared into the bare strata of rock and clay behind them.
The paintings, though loose and free in style, were incredibly evocative of the people and places they depicted.
Here is a link to a youtube video:- Il dipinto “Lucania ’61” di Carlo Levi, a Matera – 
Text by – Jackie Usher, SWWJ. (aka author Debbie Darkin, & ‘Graham Liverpool’ on Trip Advisor.)
Photographs by – Graham Usher.
March 5, 2019 @ 1:14 pm
beautiful pictures and story, so glad you’ll enjoyed. also belated Happy Anniversary.