Dedalo, a spectacular restaurant in Matera

While in Matera, the city of cave dwellings in Basilicata, we found the most amazing restaurant…in a cave of course.

We opened the door to a stunning white space carved out of rock.

The charming host gave us a tour of the labyrinth of rooms filled with the sculpted works of contemporary international artists.

We were shown to our table and the delicious food arrived. The service was excellent.

The name of the restaurant came from Dedalo, or Daedalus, father of Icarus, skilled craftsman and artist and symbol of wisdom, knowledge and power. He invented and built the labyrinth for King Minos of Crete, but shortly after finishing it King Minos had Daedalus imprisoned within the labyrinth.

He and his son devised a plan to escape by using wings of wax that Daedalus had invented. They escaped, but sadly Icarus did not heed his father’s warnings and flew too close to the sun. The wax melted and he fell to his death.

This left Daedalus heartbroken, but instead of giving up he flew to the Isand of Sicily.

This is written on the menu.

“It is said that after a long and perilous odyssey across the waves of the wind, there arrived a man, Daedalus, tired in body but strong in spirit, who decided to put an end to his wanderings and began to build his dwelling through sheer ingenuity and strength.

We like to imagine that this was the place where he landed and that he built a new labyrinth here.

Following Ariadne’s thread you will enter the heart of the hypogeum where there live undisturbed figures most redolent of Greek mythology. Briseis the beautiful slave of Achilles, Andromeda with her long hair, Cassandra the seer and Dionysus the god of wine.

As you continue along your path, you will catch the moment in which Demeter calls Persephone back to life on earth, snatching her from the very grip of jealous Hades”

As you can see, much imagination, thought and hard work has gone into making dining in this beautiful place a wonderful experience. We were very happy to have discovered Dedalo.

Dedalo

Via D’Addozio

Matera

http://www.dedalomatera.com

There will be more on amazing Matera in the next post.