Navigating into the bowels of the Earth - Caves of the Angel

Navigating into the bowels of the Earth - Caves of the Angel

Where:
Pertosa - Auletta
Description:

A majestic 20 meters-high entrance arch is the welcome that reserve the Pertosa Caves, one of the main Italian Geosites.
The most beautiful peculiarities are two:
they are the only caves in Italy where it is possible to navigate an underground river, the Negro river, accessible by boat;
they are the only caves in Europe where, in the middle of an environment completely shaped by Nature, it is possible to see the remains of a pile-dwelling village dating back to the second millennium BC, emerged thanks to a series of excavations conducted between 1897 and 1906 by Paolo Carucci, proof that the huge gut of the Alburni Mountains was frequented since the Neolithic.
The caves are called "Saint Michael’ Caves" or "Caves of the Angel", because of the cult that the Longobards paid the Archangel warrior, extremely widespread in these lands that have been Longobard. The splendid concretions with evocative names, such as the Columns of Hercules, the Crib, the Cascade of Diamonds, The Kiss on the Rock, and the huge internal hall (28 meters in height, 30 in width and 40 in length) make it a magnificent masterpiece of carved stone by nature.

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