Da Mó

Da Mó is the Mota-family-run dining room on Via Casalnuovo — the upper edge of the Sasso Barisano, just below the Civita upper-town plateau — and is the village's most reliable contemporary Lucanian family trattoria. The space is a converted 14th-century tufa-cave with stone-vaulted ceilings, hand-carved chestnut beams, an open kitchen at the back wall, and forty-eight covers across two rooms.

The menu is contemporary Lucanian with a strong family-cooking sensibility. Hand-rolled orecchiette with Lucanian lamb ragu and Pecorino di Filiano; a slow-cooked Lucanian lamb shoulder with thyme and peperone crusco; a wood-fired Adriatic octopus with green olive and lemon confit; a Matera-bread tortino with sheep's-milk ricotta and fig jam; the famous 'tortino di patate del Pollino' — a Pollino-mountain potato cake that uses a 1980s Mota-family recipe.

The wine list is short and almost entirely Lucanian-Apulian — Aglianico del Vulture, Negroamaro, Primitivo — at the most reasonable Sassi prices. Glass pours start at €4. The cellar holds about 100 references and is one of the most reasonable wine programmes in any Sassi dining room.

Service is family-run — the Mota siblings rotate the floor, the captains have worked the property for years, and the kitchen pacing accommodates the Lucanian dinner format. Da Mó is the dining room that local Matera residents, Lucanian farming families, and serious-budget travellers all use as a default lunch and dinner address.

Da Mó is the easy-first-date room in Matera — quieter than Vitantonio Lombardo, less formal than Dimora Ulmo, and the cave-restaurant setting is the conversation. The most reasonable wine list in the Sassi makes a half-bottle pairing accessible; the room's volume is celebratory rather than precious. Book the corner two-top in the smaller dining room.