Among the things to see in Matera, a place of respect is worth its rock churches: real jewels set in a treasure chest of ancient stone, are precious heritage of Byzantine monks and Benedictines settled in the area in the early Middle Ages. Among the Sassi and the Murgia, there are 155, of which 11 are in Matera.

Among all the Crypt of Original Sin, also called "The Sistine Chapel" of wall painting for the theological and artistic value of the pictorial compendium that decorates it, stands out the Crypt of Original Sin. It is one of the most interesting rock churches in Matera and the oldest evidence of the rock art of southern Italy. The only example of its kind to depict an entire cycle of frescoes, that of Creation and Original Sin.

Among the rock churches of Matera, this natural cavity overhanging the "Gravina di Picciano" is reached through the path of Pietrapenta, in the countryside of Matera, and is the oldest evidence of the rock art of southern Italy.

A cave adapted to a cave church, in the ninth century, by the Benedictine monks, are in fact evident the typical characteristics of the Benedictine-Beneventan art.

In the forty-two square meters of one of the most striking rock churches of Matera, flows under the eyes of those who observe an extraordinary cycle of frescoes, built five hundred years before Giotto, depicting the biblical story of the first chapters of Genesis: God the Creator, the Light, the Darkness, the creation of Adam, the birth of Eve, the temptation and the Original Sin.

In the three apsidal basins, the account of the Creation refers to the triarchs of the Apostles (Peter, Andrew and John), the Archangels (Michael, Gabriel and Raphael) and the veneration of the Virgin Queen.

Thanks to the audio support in Italian, English, French and German, and together with light design, those who visit this expression of Christian civilization will be offered a story in an original cultural, theological, historical and artistic key.