Can anyone suggest a private or semi private guided tour for Matera? Thanks We are a family of four and need English.

Have you searched on this forum ? There's a master list here:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...aster-list.cfm

Nadia Garlatti, mentioned by two posters in this thread, is the Matera guide we had about six years ago and she was fantastic -- the best three hours I spent in Italy that year.

Thank you!

Echoing praise for Nadia Garlatti; we used her as a private guide 2 months ago and were very pleased. Lovely person; reasonable pricing.

Not hearing back from Nadia.....any other suggestions for guides?

I would write to her again. If you still do not get a response, ask your hotel to contact her, as she is known to most of the hotels in the sassi.

Nadia was fantastic! We have contacted her thru this website http://www.guidematera.com/en/contacts.html(fill the form in and specify that you'd like to visit Matera with Nadia.)

Nadia was fantastic! We have contacted her thru this website http://www.guidematera.com/en/contacts.html (fill the form in and specify that you'd like to visit Matera with Nadia.)

TTT

I feel compelled to add my experience with Nadia Garlatti to this thread. Based on the reviews here, I reserved a tour last spring for my husband and myself with her months beforehand and even gave her several days to choose from. Everything was fine until 2 days before our tour when Nadia emailed me saying that she had to help a colleague of hers who was in trouble and was sending another guide in her place.

I was very disappointed but told Nadia that I understand and hoped everything worked out for her friend. Nadia responded and said she would try to stop by our hotel at the start of our tour to at least meet us before going to her friend.

Nadia did not appear at the start of our tour, but we did see her later -- when we ran into her at a cave house where she was leading a large group of tourists! She was not the least bit embarrassed, but it was very awkward for us and also for our substitute guide! BTW the substitute guide did her best, but was not of Nadia's caliber (obvious from the little bit that I overheard of Nadia's tour).

So based on my experience, I cannot recommend Nadia Garlatti. I understand that guides need to make a living, but I think she should have honored her commitment to us. We have always had such good experiences with private guides in the past; this experience was very disheartening to say the least.