Nature’s ceaseless and intense activity for the past 35 million years has created what is now a magical experience within the grasp of everyone. Each year the site of the Grotte dell’Angelo attracts thousands of visitors, some of whom are interested in its naturalistic/speleological features, others in its archaeology.

The cave, which was inhabited in the Stone Age, as shown by the remains of Neolithic and Eneolithic pile dwellings, was used as a place of worship by the Greeks and the Romans. In the Christian era it was consecrated to the Archangel Michael. Today, visitors can follow in amazement the passages that wind their way for about 3000 metres beneath the awe-inspiring mighty structure of the Alburni massif.

The initial stretch, which is flooded with water from the river Negro, leads into the bowels of the earth, where immersed in a magical silence, lights and shadows interweave to the roar of the huge natural waterfall. It is a surreal environment, with passages, tunnels and caverns opening up before the visitor’s eyes.

Groups of stalactites and stalagmites have moulded themselves into a series of mysterious shapes, which have often inspired imaginative names. If you just think of the time it takes a stalactite or a stalagmite to grow by a single centimetre, you will have some idea of the enormity of the miracle that nature has performed and is still continuing to perform today. This site is included in the circuit campania>artecard.