GROTTE DI CASTELCIVITA E CASTELLABATE

Caves of Castelcivita

The Castelcivita Caves are a complex of karst cavities located in the municipality of Castelcivita, in the province of Salerno. They are particularly rich in stalactites and stalagmites of a thousand shapes. They stretch for several kilometers in the Alburni massif, mainly in the towns of Castelcivita and Controne, but only 1,700 m are accessible to visitors
The first room to be observed is the Guano Hall, which until the '55s and' 60s was an ideal retreat for bats. The first stalactites, the stalagmites, the draperies, which, thanks to the peculiarities of the carbonate rock combined with rainwater, appear in the huge cavity. The Hall of the Castle appears with its group of stalagmites that reminds you of an ancient medieval castle on top of a hill. Then the route runs into two cavities: we abandon the main passage but crossing the adjacent siphon, we come back further.
The "Crocodile Hall", above the "turtle", the "candlesticks", drapes ... a new crossroads. Judah tells a story that occurred in 1889. An abductee. Here is one of the many that the water dug with its vortices forming the underlying channels. Some channels are projected upwards. The main feature of the Castelcivita Caves is the spectacle of the myriad of colors that rock has taken over the centuries by the sediments of different minerals transported by water. Other bifurcations; another upstairs room that surely boasts millions of years of seniority over the underlying course: getting around and visiting all the steps takes a long time; still high is denoted the resemblance of a king on the throne from which the name "Hall of the Throne"

Castellabate

Castellabate is a town scattered with Italian seat of the town hall in the hamlet of Santa Maria. The country, the population of which amounts to € 9.230 inhabitants, is located on the cilento coast in the Campania region and its territory is completely in the national park of Cilento, Vallo di Diano and Alburni, declared in 1998 a world heritage site by UNESCO. Its marine environments are the marine protected area Santa Maria di Castellabate.