As we let on yesterday, Matera is quite an interesting place. From the outside of the buildings, they look like normal housing. Once you step inside, you realize that it is just a facade in front of a deep cave. This area used to be a really bad place to live.
The Italian government stepped in the 1950s and kicked the entire city out. Afterwards, some leases were granted in the 1980s but for the most part, the historical center of town consists of hotels and bed and breakfasts. That means that it is quite touristy here.
Even though it is touristy, it is still an incredible sight to see. We went in to several church’s that were built in the 11 to 13th century. 
Inside there are several frescos that date back to the same period.
As the town is built in the hillside there are a ton of stairs to venture across.
After finishing our Church visits, we headed to lunch at Osteria Pico. Food was pretty good. For dinner we will hit the town again and find something delicious.
The second half of the drive reminded us of Colarado with gentle, scrubby hills. It’s all very green right now but in the Summer it must look like scorched earth, no trees anywhere.
The ruins reminded us of Pompeii; however, some were in much better shape including the temples. It was mind blowing to be standing in a temple that was built nearly 2,500 years ago. Throughout the town there are a ton of stray dogs. Some were quite cute. Of course, we kept our distance even though they appeared friendly. 
Paestum is an archeological site like Pompeii except it never got buried in ash and also it’s not as crowded. (And there are the buffalos across the street). Now we’re in the hotel hanging out and the plan is tomorrow to check it out and also maybe see the beach if it’s warm enough.
The line for the basilica was kind of long but it’s so impressive inside it was worth it. We also jumped the line accidentally at the Vatican Museum and got to see the Sistine Chapel before closing, along with a few other cool rooms. The map room was a favorite.
After all that churching and arting, we headed back to our neighborhood to have an Aperitivo at Freni e Frazione. They had quite the spread of food. Upon completion of our first drink, we headed to our next Aperitivo at caffe del Moro. Dinner tonight is at Taverna Trilussa Trastevere.
This morning was sort of overcast but warm, we had a coffee from the bar directly in front of the apartment before taking off for a day of sightseeing. Being Matt’s first trip to Europe we made sure to show him a bunch of cool old stuff on our way to the Coliseum. Unlike when we were here six years ago in January, today the major attractions were packed with people and the line was almost two hours long. We decided to buy the Roma Pass which gets you into a bunch of museums and archeological sights for discounted rates or free and allows you to jump the line. It also lets you ride the buses and metro for free so if you plan to see more than one or two places it’s a pretty good deal. Plus not waiting in line with street hawkers in your face for two hours has got to be worth something…
It is about a 10 minute walk from where we are staying mostly uphill. The castle looks over the entire town of Assisi and has some good views.
From the top we can still see some snow on the top of the hills from the freak snow storm that hit last week. 
After catching some views, we hiked back down to the town.
After walking through the town, we made it to the church and queued up our Rick Steve’s guided tour audio and set about the church.
The apartment has an incredible view of the castle Rocco Maggiore and also the church of San Rufino. It also had a fireplace so it’s really cozy. Once everything opened again for the afternoon hours we went food shopping for dinner, stopping in to visit St Francis’ birthplace and also had an apertivo at a cute wine bar right next door. Now we are enjoying a fire in the fireplace, the sun setting out the window and making dinner. 
Tomorrow we are planning to go to the Basilica and maybe the castle.