On 13 September World Caves and Karst Day invites visitors to discover a magical underground landscape.
Italy has 64 caves in 16 regions
The event will consist of tours through karst cavities, former mines and geomining parks, bringing together nature, history, spirituality, adventure and scientific outreach. A scientific study published as part of the CNR’s SHOWCAVE project has identified at least 64 tourist caves spread across 16 Italian regions. According to the CNR Institute for BioEconomy, some 1.5 million tourists choose to visit the country’s caves every year.
The world’s largest single-chamber tourist cave
In Friuli Venezia Giulia, the Grotta Gigante stands out as one of the most spectacular caves. Listed in the Guinness World Records in 1995 as the world’s largest single-chamber tourist cave, it takes visitors along the course of an ancient underground river to the Grande Caverna, a monumental chamber measuring approximately 365,000 cubic metres and almost 100 metres high, featuring stalactites, stalagmites and millennia-old formations. Also in the Trieste Karst, the Grotta delle Torri di Slivia is considered one of the region’s wonders due to its fantastic formations. At a depth of some 60 metres, accessed via an artificial entrance and a flight of 200 steps, the route allows visitors to admire stalagmites up to 8 metres high.
Grotte di Paradis - ph credits: Communication Archive, Municipality of Clauzetto
The largest “contact” cave open to visitors in Europe
In the Upper Torre Valley, the Grotta Nuova di Villanova is the largest “contact” cave open to visitors in Europe, and consists of two different types of rock. Its galleries are crossed by an underground stream and extend for over 9 kilometres through chambers filled with formations, canyons, stalactites and calcite flows resembling white waterfalls. In the Pordenone area, the Pradis Caves have many palaeontological and archaeological finds, which are now also showcased at the nearby museum of the same name. After climbing the 207 steps, you reach a gorge which also houses a wooden crucifix and a bronze statue of the Madonna. The museum and much of the underground route are also accessible to blind and visually impaired visitors.
San Giovanni d’Antro combines nature, architecture, worship and legend
In the Natisone Valleys, the Cave of San Giovanni d’Antro combines nature, architecture, worship and legend. After climbing some hundred steps, you reach the fortified entrance to the cave, which over the centuries has offered refuge to local people and has been a place of worship since the 8th century. Here you’ll find a chapel and a precious 18th-century wooden altar with 16th-century statues.
San Giovanni D'Antro - ph credits Fabrice Gallina
