According to recent researches, the origin of Matera can be dated back to the Palaeolithic Era . There is no trace establishing the origin of the town name.
 There are various thesis about the etymological origin of Matera. One of them states that the name was given by the Romans who called it Mateola. The name must have derived from the Greek terms “Metaio olos” meaning “completely empty”.
Other historians think that the name Mateola was given by Roman Consul Quinto Metello who had the town re-built in 90 B.C. According to other theories the origin of the name Mathera is linked to the term mata (stones heap) or to the union of the first syllables of two destroyed town Metaponto and Heracleia whose inhabitants are supposed to have founded Matera.
As anticipated above, the most recent archaeological discoveries have made clear that the traces of the first inhabitants of the town can be dated back to the Palaeolithic Era. The inhabitants, dedicated to agriculture, hunting and sheep-rearing, first settled on the hill sides in the caves that had been excavated by time and water. Throughout the years the town underwent Greek and Roman colonization and after the fall of the Roman Empire it was site of battles among rival Barbaric tribes.
Conquered by the Longobards and then by Saracens, the town had a period of peace only after the arrival of the Normans and then of the Svevian.
At the end of 15th century it became feud of Earl Tramontano till 1500.
After the fall of the feudal power, it became a royal town and began to experience a period of economical vitality till the first half of 1600 when it was taken away from the Terra d’Otranto and became head town of Basilicata in 1663 and then just a province.
After the World Wars its already unsafe conditions got worse and after the Great War it was devastated and sacked by the Germans. The inhabitants of Matera, even if seriously upset by the war and by Nazi raids, react with heroism actions and the consequent loss of many dear relatives. After many years the town was given the merit of being the first town rebelled against the enemy.
In remembrance of the heavy loss, you can still observe, in the pedestrian area at the centre of the town, a war memorial and a tombstone where once stood the Milizia which was bombed by the Germans with some civilians inside.
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