Matera and surrounding countryside have been continuously inhabited since the Stone Age. And the grotto along the Gravina bear witness to each era. The Bronze Age left cisterns and tombs as well as underground dwellings. The Greeks gave Matera its name, Met + Era, as well as the Civita, the town's first center. Benedictines adorned the caves with colorful frescoes in the 8th century. The Lombards and Byzantines fought over Matera for 130 years. Basilian monks transformed the dark damp grottos into places of cult or rupestrian churches between the 12th and 15th century. Carlos Levi described the misery in his famous novel, Christ stopped at Eboli, in 1945 and the Italian government relocated the cave dwellers in 1952.

Online maps are a great travel planning resource and a great way to get the kids involved in a family trip. Teach kids to use interactive online maps to locate your travel destinations, plan your itinerary and plot your route by foot, boat or train. And use online maps of Italy to pinpoint and name the 20 regions of Italy and discover the languages spoken in ancient Italy.

Books are a great way to introduce young children to a new adventure and get teens and tweens ready for a family trip. We've compiled a list of books about Italy and books by Italian authors for children of various ages and with varying interests. What better why to begin a journey that a trip through literature?

Italy has a rich tradition in music that goes beyond folk song and opera. Learn about Italian popular music as well as Italian singer-songwriters. Listen to Italian music online from Valle d'Aosta to Sicily. And when you've completed your musical inquiry and extend your exploration to sound. Hear the hum of a vespa, take in the sound of a local festival and picture the scene. Family travel to Italy is as much as sights as it is about sounds.

English language dailies, such as the Herald Tribune, Financial Times and USA Today, and weekly magazines, including The Economist, are sold at newsstands throughout Italy. While they keep readers up to date on world events and happenings at home they provide little insight to the Italian psyche and lack detail on local affairs. Corriere della Sera, Italy's best selling daily, provides extensive coverage of local, Italian and world news. The newspaper voices the opinions of Italy's industrial north yet is one of the country's most balanced news sources. The English version of the Italian-language newspaper includes the day's tops stories. The left-leaning La Repubblica is Italy's second national newspaper. The daily favored the country's intellectual elite doesn't have an English language version but boasts a top online format. Il Sole 24 Ore is Italy's leading daily financial newspaper. ANSA, Italy's leading newswire, makes national and international news stories available in five languages - Italian, English, Spanish, Portuguese and Arabic.