Only durum wheat semolina, sourdough starter, water and salt: no other flour goes into the dough of Pane di Matera, recognisable by its thick, dark crust and its yellow, dense crumb, able to stay fresh for days. There are two traditional shapes, «tall» and «horn», both baked in wood-fired ovens that once heated entire neighbourhoods of the Sassi.
The tradition is rooted in the farming culture of the province of Matera, when every family kneaded its bread at home and carried it to the neighbourhood oven to bake, stamped with a wooden mark to recognise it among the others coming out.
The Consortium for the Protection of Pane di Matera was founded in 2001; the Protected Geographical Indication mark arrived on 21 February 2008, and in 2018 the regulations were updated with new European protection.