Caves of Castellana
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The Castellana Caves, a complex of underground caves of karst origin, of considerable tourist interest, among the most beautiful and spectacular in Italy, are located in the municipality of Castellana-Grotte, about 1.5 km from the town.
They develop for a length of 3348 meters and reach a maximum depth of 122 meters from the surface. The indoor temperature is around 16.5 ° C
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THE VISIT TO THE CAVES
The visit to the public of the Castellana Caves winds along an easily practicable path and with the expert presence of multilingual guides. An extraordinary excursion into the Caves at about 70 meters deep in an astonishing scenery of stalactites, stalagmites, fossils, cavities, caves with fantastic names.
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Ancient legends and pioneering explorationsTHE DEEP VORAGEThe mouth of the Grave, the deep chasm at the entrance to the caves, has always aroused a sense of anguish and fear in those who traveled the nearby country road, especially at dusk, when it could happen that they came out of the abyss. , together with the bats that fluttered in the fields hunting for insects, vapors, considered by superstitious travelers to be the souls of suicides, who, having found their death in the Grave, tried in vain to ascend to heaven.
Vincenzo Longo (1737-1825), humanist and jurist from Castellana, was perhaps the first man to go down to the Grave together with a large group of young peers.
The memory of the enterprise, enriched by many and different details, was perpetuated in the memory of the witnesses of the time and from these it was handed down to subsequent generations.
In the seventh volume of the Chorographic-Universal Dictionary of Italy, published in Milan in 1852, the historicity of the event is attested: A little more than a mile to the west of Castellana there is a natural curiosity, that is a chasm called by the common people the Serious; the mouth of this has a circumference of about 180 palms and the depth is about 300 palms. In the last century some intrepid citizens of Castellana descended there early in the morning, making use of hawsers and ropes, and traveled several miles of dark underground districts , and they did not come out until about midnight so that the relatives and friends palpitated for so long to wait. *
* F. DE LUCA - R. MASTRIANI, Castellana, in AA.VV., Chorographic Dictionary of the Kingdom of Naples - Chorographic-Universal Dictionary of Italy, Milan, 1852, vol. VII, pp. 237-238.
Vincenzo Longo (1737-1825), humanist and jurist from Castellana, was perhaps the first man to go down to the Grave together with a large group of young peers.
The memory of the enterprise, enriched by many and different details, was perpetuated in the memory of the witnesses of the time and from these it was handed down to subsequent generations.
In the seventh volume of the Chorographic-Universal Dictionary of Italy, published in Milan in 1852, the historicity of the event is attested: A little more than a mile to the west of Castellana there is a natural curiosity, that is a chasm called by the common people the Serious; the mouth of this has a circumference of about 180 palms and the depth is about 300 palms. In the last century some intrepid citizens of Castellana descended there early in the morning, making use of hawsers and ropes, and traveled several miles of dark underground districts , and they did not come out until about midnight so that the relatives and friends palpitated for so long to wait. *
* F. DE LUCA - R. MASTRIANI, Castellana, in AA.VV., Chorographic Dictionary of the Kingdom of Naples - Chorographic-Universal Dictionary of Italy, Milan, 1852, vol. VII, pp. 237-238.