I am Nicola Taddonio, a freelance First-tier archaeologist. I was born in Matera and grew up in the 1980s and ’90s, when the Sassi were still largely abandoned and, for us kids, an endless place to explore.
I graduated in Classical Archaeology from the University of Foggia (110/110 cum laude, 2009), with a thesis on the votive terracottas of the sanctuary of Rossano di Vaglio. I then completed the Postgraduate School of Archaeology in Matera, University of Basilicata (70/70 cum laude, 2014), with an experimental thesis on remote sensing in archaeology: Torre di Satriano in COSMO-SkyMed satellite imagery, in collaboration with the Italian Space Agency.
Since 2006 I have worked on excavations and construction sites in Basilicata, Apulia, Calabria and Campania. I have also excavated in the Marche region and taken part in university excavations at Pantelleria and Pompeii. Today my work is mostly preventive archaeology: VPIA, test trenches and monitoring for public bodies and companies, often in the historic centre and the Sassi of Matera. Since 2025 I have also been a design-review inspector for archaeology.
My research focuses on ancient Lucania, its sanctuaries and indigenous cults, and landscape archaeology. I have written about these subjects in academic volumes and in the journal Mathera.
Since 2013 I have been a licensed tour guide in Italian and English, leading private visitors in Matera and Basilicata with sassitour.it. I chair ConfGuide-Confcommercio Matera, which I founded in 2018, and I am vice-president of ConfGuide Italy. I am an AIS sommelier and I have taught Art History in secondary school.
I speak English at C2 level. Naples is my second home.
Education
Postgraduate specialisation (Basilicata, 2014) · Master’s degree (Foggia, 2009) · ESA course on remote sensing (2013) · First-level university Master (2021)
Roles
President, ConfGuide Matera · Vice-president, ConfGuide Italy · Board, Confcommercio Matera · Board, Confcommercio Basilicata
Previously
Founder of MUV Matera; treasurer and board member of the Carlo Levi Centre