To complete this last stage of the Via Ellenica in reverse, 18km, it takes me 4 hours. The route has little uphill and the terrain is a mixture of unpaved road and asphalt with a short final passage through the Bosco Selva.

During the stage the presence of trulli increases continuously until the presence of pointed roofs becomes a constant feature alongside every masseria or countryside house.

The Via Ellenica arrives in Matera via the Rione Monti (for context, the one with “postcard-like” views) and every trullo is a bar, or a restaurant, or a craft shop, or a souvenir shop; the massive presence of tourists immediately makes evident why Alberobello is a location evidently uninterested in the Cammino Materano and hikers in general (in the list of affiliated facilities there are no restaurants and only one hotel, understandably expensive).

After wandering through the center and taking the requisite number of photographs, I get a restaurant recommendation far from the crowds and end up at “Casa Nova” for the last plate of strascinati alle cime di rapa before saying a definitive goodbye to the Via Ellenica and heading home.

My “double” Cammino Materano is finished!