Castellana Caves

The Castellana Caves are one of the many natural wonders that Apulia boasts and for which it is envied. The Murge and the olive trees are the backdrop to this unusual limestone complex that nature has left us.

The caves are in the province of Bari, less than 1 km from the town of Castellana Grotte.

They extend for 3,348 meters and reach a maximum depth of 122 meters below the surface. The temperature inside hovers around 16.5°C.

About 100 million years ago this land lay under the sea, on whose floor the limestone rocks were laid down; when the region emerged, rainwater seeped into it. For millions of years, the erosive action of the water shaped the limestone rocks underground. Over time these underground rocks took on different shapes, colors and compositions, turning into the stalactites, stalagmites and other features typical of these caves.

Various fossils and minerals have been found in the Castellana Caves, while the stalactites (limestone formations that grow from the top down) and the stalagmites (formations that grow from the bottom up) keep growing year after year, millennium after millennium.

In 1938 the speleologist Franco Anelli decided to try going down into the only known cavity in the area, then used as a dump, and discovered that there was much more.

The caves have been open to visitors since the end of World War II. Since then, some 14 million visitors have ventured inside.

The entrance to the caves, an open-air cavern called the “Grave,” takes visitors down to a depth of about 60 meters. The “Grave” was the only known opening before the discovery, and it is said that no one had ever dared to go near it.

Today, instead, it is the starting point for fantastic routes through caves with very imaginative names: the Owl Cave, the Angel’s Corridor, Little Paradise and so on. Some limestone formations are named for their resemblance to Italian monuments such as Milan Cathedral or the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The tour ends inside the dazzling, evocative “White Cave.”

The caves are a great natural stage, which is why so many events are held inside them. The Christmas events are certainly the most fascinating, among them concerts and the Living Nativity in the caves. There are also photo exhibitions and shows, including “Hell in the Cave,” a reinterpretation of Dante’s Inferno set in the caves.