Palazzo Bernardini, Historic palace in Sasso Caveoso, Matera, Italy

Palazzo Bernardini is a palace in the Sasso Caveoso neighborhood of Matera, featuring traditional stonework on its facade and rooms decorated with frescoed walls, twelve canvas paintings, and original Murano glass chandeliers. The spaces extend across multiple levels with different views toward the surrounding historic city.

The palace belonged to the Ulmo family before passing by dowry to Giambattista Ferraù, whose wife Beatrice Ulmo brought it. An inheritance of 80,000 ducats from uncle Antonio Tarsia made the Ferraù one of Matera's nine noble families in 1592. Giambattista later reversed the entrance from the San Nicola all'Arco enclosure after the town hall was finished in 1759. For King Joseph Bonaparte's visit on 30 May 1806, the entrance moved to Piazza Sedile and a ball was held. In 1974 the Giudicepietro family sold the apartment to Aldo Bernardini, who restored it.

The rooms display furnishings from the late 18th and early 19th centuries, with marble consoles, yellow damask upholstery, and decorative pieces that reflect how wealthy families lived during that period. Walking through these spaces gives a sense of domestic life from centuries past.

The palace stands in Piazza Sedile, in the Sasso Caveoso district. Its entrance was moved here in 1806 for the visit of King Joseph Bonaparte. Visitors can walk to the Sassi and the rock churches on foot; the surrounding lanes are steep and stepped, so sturdy shoes help.

The monochrome frieze in the main salon is broken by low-relief figures in white on a blue ground, a scheme tied to Wedgwood porcelain and to Roman figurative art after the finds at Herculaneum and Pompeii. The figures stand near a stone marker: one drags a rabbit, the others lead a horse and a bull.