Legends of the caves of Italy. Frasassi caves: the most beautiful underground kingdom in Europe. The Frasassi Caves: an unforgettable journey into an enchanting realm

If you are tired of the beaches of Italy, then you may like the sea caves, where you can also swim and cool off on hot days. Italy has several spectacular sea caves that can be found all along the coast. From the popular Blue Grotto on the island of Capri, to the vast Palinuro cave system, these are some of the world's most amazing natural wonders. So, 10 sea caves in Italy in the photo feed.

Blue Grotto, Capri

One of the secret and natural wonders of the world. It is called blue because the light reflects upward from the clear blue sea, illuminating the cave with a magical blue light. Today it is a popular attraction, and the cave was known to the Romans, because Roman structures and statues were found in these places. It is interesting that the grotto has only one entrance from the sea, so you can get into this beautiful blue cave only by boat. The cave is 56 meters long and 30 meters wide.

Grotto in Castro
A particularly beautiful karst cave in the sea, which is under special protection. The limestone topography of the area gives the cave a unique and subtle eco-system above and below sea level, the colors of these places are breathtaking.

Blue Grotto, Taormina
On the island of Belle, close to Taormina in Sicily, there is another blue grotto that is very popular with the locals, but it is still not open to tourists like the blue grotto in Capri.

Grotto of Neptune, Alghero
Discovered in the 18th century by local fishermen, Neptune's Grotto is part of a cave system that stretches for 4 km, including the underwater cave of Nereo, which is visited every year by thousands of scuba divers. Accessible on foot, Neptune's Grotto is an illuminated cave with spectacular stalactites, stalagmite formations and, of course, a delightful sea.

Grotto dello Poetry, Roca Vecchia, Salento
Legend has it that the beautiful princess loved to swim in the salubrious waters of the cave, and her beauty was so magnificent that the news quickly spread all over Puglia. For the news, legions of poets from all over southern Italy rushed to this region, gathering in this place to compose poems inspired by its natural beauty. The large karst cave behind the cliff in Roca is the place to get some inspiration. The walls are covered with inscriptions in ancient Greek and Latin.

Blue Grotto of Marino, Cala Gonone, Sardinia
This place is very popular among tourists due to its accessibility and vastness. Blue water is everywhere, you can walk along the built bridges from hall to hall, enjoying the cool air and water. You will get a lot of impressions from this place.

Sea caves of Cape Gargano, Puglia
This is a whole complex of caves: "Cave of Two Eyes", "Cave of Tomatoes", "Cave of Smugglers" and many other different caves. Each of the caves of this complex has something special, something that distinguishes them from each other. Maybe it's the splendor of flowers. This is a whole area of unidentified treasures, natural wonders, where the caves are some of the most beautiful in all of Italy.

Sea caves of Palinuro
The Tyrrhenian Sea at Cape Palinuro, Salerno is home to Italy's most extensive cave system. Thousands of diving enthusiasts flock to the huge underwater caves for breathtaking snorkeling, however, the surface caves are just as spectacular.

Emerald Grotto, Sardinia
A small but very pretty Sardinian grotto, the cave is illuminated in the emerald green of the waters around the island. If you are in those parts, then you should definitely visit this place, but the visit can be very short, because a large number of tourists come here, and they all want to visit the cave.

Blue grotto on Cavoli beach, Elba island
On the idyllic, quiet beach of Cavoli on the island of Elba, there is a blue grotto. The cave is located at a distance of 600 meters from the sandy shore, can be reached by water moped or small boat. Not the most exciting grotto on the list, but it is good because there are few tourists here, and it smells of mystery!

Blue Grotto, Capri

One of the natural wonders of the world. The grotto is called blue because the cave is illuminated by a bluish light reflected from the sea waters. Today it is a popular attraction. The cave was known to the Romans. Roman structures and statues were found in these places. The cave is only accessible by boat. The cave is 56 meters long and 30 meters wide.

Grotto in Castro

The karst sea cave is under protection. The limestone creates a unique eco-system in the cave.

Blue Grotto, Taormina

On the island of Belle, close to Taormina in Sicily, there is another blue grotto, very popular with locals. But it is not yet as popular with tourists as the grotto in Capri.

Grotto of Neptune, Alghero

Discovered in the 18th century by local fishermen, Neptune's Grotto is part of a cave system that stretches for 4 km, including the underwater cave of Nereo, which is visited every year by thousands of scuba divers. The Grotto of Neptune is an illuminated cavern with stalactites, stalagmite formations and of course, a delightful sea.

Grotto dello Poetry, Roca Vecchia, Salento

Legend has it that the beautiful princess loved to swim in the waters of the cave. Her beauty was so resplendent that her fame spread throughout Puglia. Hearing of this, legions of poets from all over southern Italy rushed to those places. They gathered here to compose poems inspired by her beauty. The large karst cave behind the cliff in Roca is a place of inspiration.

Blue Grotto of Marino, Cala Gonone, Sardinia

This place is very popular among tourists due to its accessibility and vastness. Blue water is everywhere. You can walk along the built bridges from hall to hall, enjoying the cool air and water.

Sea caves of Cape Gargano, Puglia

This is a whole complex of caves: "Cave of Two Eyes", "Cave of Tomatoes", "Cave of Smugglers" and others. Each of the caves of this complex has something special, something that distinguishes them from each other. Maybe it's the splendor of flowers. This is a whole area of unidentified treasures, natural wonders.

Sea caves of Palinuro

The Tyrrhenian Sea at Cape Palinuro, Salerno, is home to Italy's most extensive cave system. Underwater caves are popular with divers. However, it is worth visiting the caves above the water. They are also interesting.

Emerald Grotto, Sardinia

A small but very pretty Sardinian grotto. A cave in emerald green colors. If you are in those parts, be sure to visit this place. However, the walk may not be long, because the cave is visited by a large number of tourists.

Blue grotto on Cavoli beach, Elba island

On the idyllic, quiet beach of Cavoli on the island of Elba, there is a blue grotto. The cave is located at a distance of 600 meters from the sandy shore. You can get there by water moped or small boat. The grotto is good because there are few tourists here.

A , Savona (Grotte di Toirano, Savona)

Grottoes of Troyan are located a few kilometers from the sea, in the Val Varatella area in the province of Savona. These grottoes consist of 150 caves, many of which are still not fully explored. Since 1953, some caves have been open to the public. In the Bàsura (witch) cave you can see the skeleton of an ancient bear, in the very large cave called the Pantheon you can see a huge stalagmite covered with stones, which is affectionately called the “pearl of the cave”. The cave walk ends at Tanone Cave, which was used as a shelter during the Second World War during air raids. Today it is used as a colorful concert stage.

Address: Via alle Grotte, Toirano, Savona

Giant cave, Sgonico (Grotta del Gigante, Sgonico)

giant cave is the largest tourist grotto in the world. Located in Sgonico, near Trieste. You can read more about the grotto.

Address: Località Borgo Grotta Gigante, 42/A, Sgonico (Trieste)

Grotta del Vento, Tuscany

Grotta del Vento located in the Apuan Alps National Park of Tuscany. A visit to the caves can last from one to three hours, depending on the route you choose. There you can see stalagmites and stalactites, almost all living ones, i.e. in the growing phase. This grotto also has an adventure route, accompanied by expert speleologists.

Address: Grotta del Vento - Vergemoli (LU)

Frasassi Cave, Marche

These caves have more than 13 kilometers of different routes. The tourist route, accessible to all tourists, has a length of 1.5 km. The walk lasts approximately 75 minutes. During it you can see small underground lakes, stalactites and stalagmites. The most daring and hardy can choose more difficult routes: il percorso azzurro (the walk lasts 2.5 hours) and il percorso rosso (the walk lasts about 4 hours).

Address: Viale Giovanni Marinelli, San Vittore delle Chiuse, Genga (Ancona)

Grotte di Pastena, Frosinone (Grotte di Pastena, Frosinone)

Grotte di Pastena located in the Monti Ausoni mountain range, in the province of Frosinone. During a walk through 10 caves, you can see underground lakes, waterfalls, stalactites and stalagmites. The most colorful place of the caves is a lake called Lago Blu, into which a waterfall flows from a height of 10 meters.

Grotte di Stiffe, Abruzzo

Grotte di Stiffe located in the province of L'Aquila, Abruzzo region. Part of the route through these caves is accompanied by an underground river, which periodically turns into waterfalls. The walk lasts about an hour.

Address: Via del Mulino, 2, Stiffe, San Demetrio ne "Vestini (L" Aquila)

cavesAngela, Campaign(Grotte dell "Angelo, Campania)

Angel Cave located in the province of Salerno, in the town of Pertosa. These caves are already 35 million years old and still continue to amaze and delight visitors. For a walk, you can choose one of three routes of different duration.

Address: Località Muraglione 18/20 - Pertosa (SA)

Castellana Caves, White Grotto, Bari (Grotte di Castellana, Bari, Grotta Bianca)

Caves of Castellane in the province of Bari are among the most beautiful in Italy. The walk takes about two hours. During this time you will walk about 3 kilometers.

Address: Piazzale Anelli, Castellana Grotte (BA)

Grotto Dzinzulusa, Lecce (Grotta della Zinzulusa, Lecce)

Grotto Dzinzuluza located in Lecce.

Address: Via Zinzulusa, Castro (Lecce)

Grotta di Su Mannau, Sardinia(Grotta di Su Mannau, Sardegna).

Grotta di Su Mannau located on the island of Sardinia, in the municipality of Fluminimaggiore. It has a length of more than 8 kilometers and originated about 15 million years ago.

Address: Via Vittorio Emanuele 3, 09010 Fluminimaggiore, Sardegna

The small ancient city of Matera is located in the Basilicata region of southern Italy. Its historical part consists of cave houses, hollowed out in the soft tufa of the Gravina di Matera canyon. Thanks to its unusual architecture, this place, little known among tourists, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1993.

The carved cave houses of Matera are called sassi by the locals. In the ancient city, you can see entire streets of cave houses with small windows and doorways. Their facades are lined with tuff rock, extracted during the creation of caves. All sassi are stuck to the sheer wall of the Gravina canyon and are interconnected by winding stairs that act as streets.

The most difficult thing in the construction of the cave houses of Matera was to establish water supply and sewerage. Therefore, a unique system appeared here, based on the collection of rainwater in special cisterns created right in the tuff rocks. You will not find its analogues anywhere else in the world.

That the ancient caves of Matera remained inhabited until the end of the 20th century. It is easy to guess that the living conditions in the Sassi were not comfortable, and were simply completely unsanitary. Some of the Sassi were converted by wealthy residents into more comfortable modern dwellings, but in most cases these were very modest caves of poor people, where large families of up to 10 people could huddle.

After unsanitary conditions and mortality in the Sassi reached catastrophic proportions, the authorities still managed to resettle the local residents and the cave houses were ignored for some time. But in 1993 they were recognized as unique and taken under the protection of UNESCO.

The ancient streets of the cave city of Matera have become the backdrop for a number of biblical films. It was here that the famous "Passion of the Christ" by Mel Gibson, as well as "The Omen" by John Moore and "Ben-Hur" by Timur Bekmambetov were filmed.

Another interesting cave city can be seen in Turkey. In the unique geological formations of Cappadocia, a cave city was created, where people live to this day.