Eternal Stones of Matera: Rome – Matera – Palena – Rome
Rome → Matera → Palena → Rome
The Eternal Stones of Matera is a three-day, two-night circular journey aboard Orient Express La Dolce Vita that spirals south from Rome into the deep heartland of southern Italy before returning to the Eternal City. Departing from Roma Ostiense station, the train glides through the rolling Apennine landscapes as evening falls, delivering guests to one of the world's most extraordinary cities ? Matera ? before continuing northward into the rugged Abruzzo highlands and the hidden mountain commune of Palena.
What makes this itinerary so remarkable is its devotion to Italy's lesser-told stories. Matera's Sassi ? rock-cut cave dwellings continuously inhabited since the Palaeolithic ? earned UNESCO World Heritage status in 1993 and served as the backdrop for The Passion of the Christ. Palena, cradled within Majella National Park, is a medieval Abruzzo gem that rewards those willing to stray from the well-worn tourist trail. Between these two destinations, every kilometre of railway reveals a landscape of limestone gorges, chestnut forests, and hilltop villages that few travellers ever see.
Throughout the journey, three-Michelin-starred Chef Heinz Beck curates menus that celebrate seasonal and locally sourced Italian produce, served in the elegant dining cars of La Dolce Vita as the countryside scrolls past the windows. Live music in the Bar Car, a dedicated cabin steward, and the timeless romance of overnight train travel complete an experience that is as much about the journey as the destinations.
- ✦UNESCO World Heritage Sassi of Matera ? ancient cave city inhabited for 9,000 years
- ✦Gourmet dining by three-Michelin-starred Chef Heinz Beck aboard the moving train
- ✦Guided tour of Matera's Hypogeum and cave restaurant lunch in the Sassi
- ✦Morning in Palena, a hidden medieval village within Majella National Park
- ✦Live music evenings and aperitivo cocktails in the Bar Car
- ✦Spectacular Apennine landscapes through Basilicata and Abruzzo
- ✦Two nights in a private en-suite cabin on one of Italy's most beautiful trains
Day-by-Day Itinerary
Day 1 ? Rome: Departure from Roma Ostiense
The adventure begins in Rome, where guests are transferred by private car to the exclusive La Dolce Vita Lounge at Roma Ostiense station ? a celebrated Art Nouveau terminus steeped in railway history. In the late afternoon, the train departs southward through the Lazio countryside as the light turns golden over the Roman Campagna. Guests are shown to their beautifully appointed private cabins ? either a Deluxe Cabin with its signature slatted-wood ceiling and sofa bed, or a more expansive Suite Cabin dressed in terracotta, amethyst, and antique-smoked mirrors with twin armchairs and a writing table. As twilight deepens, dinner is served in the Dining Car: a multi-course table d hote menu by Chef Heinz Beck, featuring dishes that honour the terroir of the regions the train is approaching ? Campania, Basilicata, Abruzzo. After dinner, the Bar Car comes alive with live music and entertainment, offering aperitivo cocktails and digestivi as the train rolls through the night toward Basilicata.
Day 2 ? Matera: The Ancient Cave City
The train arrives in Matera in the early morning, and guests awake to one of the most arresting cityscapes in Europe. An Italian breakfast ? fresh cornetti, yoghurt, fruit, and espresso ? is served either in the Dining Car or brought to the cabin. Those who have pre-booked the optional curated excursion join a specialist guide for a walking tour of the Sassi districts ? Sasso Caveoso and Sasso Barisano ? exploring the labyrinthine lanes, carved cisterns, and rock-hewn churches (chiese rupestri) that pepper the ravine walls. A highlight is a visit to the Hypogeum, the underground cistern system that enabled Matera's ancient population to harvest every drop of rainwater. Lunch is served in a cave restaurant carved directly into the tufa rock, where regional specialities such as crapiata (a legume and grain soup of ancient origin) and Lucanian lamb are paired with wines from the Aglianico grape. In the afternoon, guests return to the train for an Italian aperitivo as La Dolce Vita departs northward toward Abruzzo. Dinner by Chef Heinz Beck and evening entertainment in the Bar Car continue as the train climbs into the Apennines overnight.
Day 3 ? Palena: The Heart of Majella, then Rome
Morning light reveals the limestone massifs of the Majella National Park as the train arrives in the Abruzzo highlands near Palena ? a small commune of medieval origin tucked beneath the great white calcareous ridges of the Majella. Palena's Castello Ducale crowns the upper village; once a Caldora stronghold, it now houses a Palaeontological Museum containing fossils unique to the Majella plateau. The Church of San Falco e San Antonino preserves architectural layers spanning the Norman period to the Baroque, while the nearby Hermitage of Madonna dell'Altare, set in a limestone cave overlooking the valley, offers a meditative encounter with Abruzzo's deep devotional culture. Guests may also walk the nature trails through beech and black pine forest, where brown bears of the Apennine subspecies occasionally roam the protected Area Faunistica dell'Orso Bruno. A typical Abruzzo lunch ? perhaps arrosticini lamb skewers, handmade spaghetti alla chitarra, and local Montepulciano d'Abruzzo wine ? is enjoyed in the village before guests re-board La Dolce Vita in the early afternoon. The train makes its return journey northward through the Apennines, arriving back at Roma Ostiense in the evening, where private transfers conclude the journey.
Destinations & Highlights
Rome (Roma Ostiense)
The journey begins and ends at Roma Ostiense, one of Rome's most evocative railway stations, built in the early twentieth century and distinguished by its Art Nouveau facades and grand arched ironwork. The station stands just south of the Aventine Hill, close to the ancient Pyramid of Cestius and the Protestant Cemetery where Keats and Shelley are buried ? a suitably poetic departure point. Guests collecting at Rome before the journey can explore the Vatican, the Colosseum, Trastevere's trattorias, and the Via Veneto's Belle Epoque grandeur, all within easy reach.
Matera, Basilicata
Matera is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities on Earth, with human settlement in its caves documented as far back as 7,000 BC. The city divides into two Sassi districts ? Sasso Caveoso, the older and more rustic southern quarter, and Sasso Barisano, the livelier northern district facing the modern city ? both tumbling down the ravine of the Gravina river in a cascade of honey-coloured tufa stone. UNESCO inscribed the Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches on the World Heritage List in 1993, recognising the site as one of the most outstanding, intact examples of a troglodyte settlement in the Mediterranean region. Over 150 rock churches are carved into the ravine walls, their interiors frescoed in Byzantine and Romanesque styles; the most celebrated is the Madonna de Idris, perched on the San Pietro Caveoso ridge. The city gained global recognition as a film location ? Pier Paolo Pasolini shot The Gospel According to St. Matthew here in 1964, and Mel Gibson chose Matera for Jerusalem in The Passion of the Christ (2004). Today, smart boutique hotels, artisan workshops, craft distilleries, and innovative cave restaurants have transformed the Sassi into one of Italy's most talked-about culinary destinations.
Palena and the Majella National Park, Abruzzo
Palena sits at approximately 900 metres above sea level in the upper Aventino Valley, its medieval stone centre watched over by the Castello Ducale ? a fortress associated with the powerful Caldora family, who controlled the Majella pasturelands in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The town was devastated by the 1706 earthquake and again during the Second World War (caught between German mining and Allied bombardment), yet its historical core survives with remarkable integrity. The surrounding Majella National Park ? a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve ? shelters some of the Apennines' most dramatic scenery: deep gorges, high karst plateaus, ancient beech forests, and a wildlife population that includes wolves, golden eagles, chamois, and the critically important Marsican brown bear. The Majella was also sacred in the medieval world: the slopes are scattered with hermitages, abbeys, and cave sanctuaries associated with the Celestine monks founded by the future Pope Celestine V, who chose these remote peaks as a place of contemplation. A visit to Palena is a genuine encounter with an Italy that most travellers never find.