How to recognize a licensed guide in Matera (approved by the Basilicata Tourist Board)

When you choose a tourist guide (in Matera or wherever), please check that he or she is a licensed guide.
How can you check that?
Every guide is obliged to show an official badge like the one in the following picture, with the phrase “Guida Turistica” on it (please note that this badge is equivalent to the British "Blue badge"):

blue badge guides Matera Basilicata

Any badge different from the one showed in this picture is not valid in the Basilicata region and so the holder is not a licensed guide.

Please do not trust anyone who stops you in the street to sell a guided tour or any kind of ticket *: they are scammers so, if they try to fool you, please call the local police dialing the number (+39)08352671 (I cannot guarantee the policeman answering the phone call will be able to speak English, but you can give it a try).

To hire a licensed guide, we suggest to contact Guide Matera or to find a specialized travel agency, but please avoid street-scammers.

*Please note that if you do not want to visit the “Sassi di Matera” with a licensed guide, you can visit it by yourself and there is no ticket to pay for the entrance: if you like, you can go to the cave-dwelling or the stone-cut churches situated in the Sassi and buy the ticket at the entrance (there's a box office) but no one can ask you to pay a ticket to visit the Sassi.