Matera's ZTL: the Sassi shut to cars twice a day

In Matera the Sassi traffic zone, the yellow zone, is restricted every day from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm and from 5:00 pm to 9:30 pm, while the blue zone around the Duomo and San Biagio is closed to unauthorized cars 24 hours a day.

Three colours, three rules

Matera's restricted area is split into 3 coloured zones plus the pedestrian areas, and each has its own timetable.

Exemptions depend on the zone and can cover authorized residents, emergency vehicles, holders of a disabled badge, electric vehicles and taxis. The seasonal hours of the three green sub-zones are not in the data this page relies on, so they are not given.

An ordinance from 2014, reminders from this year

Executive ordinance 291¹ of August 27, 2014 sets the basic rules. The council's open data sheet on the zones was updated on August 9, 2026 and offers the perimeters in KML and GeoJSON.

The map files attached to that sheet still date from 2014, while the council keeps issuing supplementary ordinances for the Sassi. Before driving in, read the latest ones on the council's official notice board: that is where a temporary change will appear.

How the fine reaches you

Matera works on the same model as Italy's other art cities in 2026: only authorized vehicles, only in set time bands, with cameras reading every plate at the boundary and a penalty issued automatically to anyone without a registered permit.

There is no barrier and no warning at the moment you drive in. The notice comes later, by post, to the registered keeper. The gate locations in Matera are not published in the sources behind this page.

Why so many people arrive by car: no mainline railway

Matera is not connected to the national rail network in 2026: the city is served only by the narrow-gauge Ferrovie Appulo Lucane. A new line from Ferrandina to Matera La Martella, 20 km of electrified single track costing €525³ million, partly from the PNRR recovery plan, has been under construction since 2023 and is due to open in 2028.

Until then the train means the FAL. On the weekday timetable in force since August 31, 2026, the first train leaves Bari Centrale at 4:14 am and the last at 10:10 pm, and most Matera services require a change at Altamura, reached in about 1 hour 12 minutes. The full Bari-Matera time cannot be read with certainty from the published timetable, so it is not stated here.

On Sundays and holidays the FAL replaces its trains with buses that accept rail tickets. They leave from the bus terminal in via Capruzzi, in front of Bari's FS station rather than the FAL one, and the August 3, 2026 timetable shows 8 arrivals at Matera Centrale between 9:48 am and 11:03 pm. Some departures end at Altamura or Gravina, so check the destination on the bus.

Where to leave the car

There is no verified parking price or car park list for Matera in this site's data, so the page gives none. The practical rule stands anyway: park outside the coloured zones and walk down into the Sassi.

See also Matera, getting to Matera, the Sassi, the capital without a railway and ZTL rules across Italy.

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