Scurati Caves, Custonaci, Italy

The Scurati Caves are an ancient settlement and a speleological geological site located in the municipality of Custonaci. The site includes a total of nine caves. The largest cave is the Mangiapane cave, which is about 70 meters high, 13 wide and 50 deep. Numerous ancient findings have been found in the site including rock paintings.

Guido Dalla Rosa first explored the area in 1870, surfacing ancient clues of a human presence – some of which 20,000 years old: flits, obsidian tools and cave paintings. The caves, however, were not a regular archeological site: in the early 1800s, man had returned. Indeed, Grotta Mangiapane is named after the family who had settled in these primordial quarters and lived there until the 1950s.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Petar Kaurin (2 years ago)
Very interesting and friendly place. Old Sicily style. If you are a tourist, this is why you came to Sicily.

Tania Teacher (2 years ago)
Wonderful location, especially when coming with children. You can experience the life in former times with houses built in the cave and around, animals and a really nice Café with a sea view. Free entry, you can donate.

Casper Lorentzen (2 years ago)
Beautiful place. Well organized with free entrance. Though it is expected that you leave a small donation at the entrance, which is completely okay because it helps them run the place and keep it clean and feeds the animals.

Keith Scicluna (2 years ago)
Easy large parking space available. Some explanation about the place was given to the Italian visitors whilst nothing was explained to other nationalities. Still a very nice and quiet place to visit.

Jesper Agermose Hansen (2 years ago)
This place really impressed us. Our expectations were not high, so we were positively surprised how good it was. There is a large parking lot very close by. The venue consists of several buildings/workshops that display how the place would have looked like. You follow a path that will eventually lead you to the cave buildings. There is a beautiful view of the ocean from the cafe, which serves various beverages and foods. The entrance is free, but at the exit you can donate to the place to support upkeep. We highly recommend this hidden gem.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright Infomastern

Historic Site of the week

Visby Cathedral

Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.

Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.

There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.

Scurati Caves

Address

Details

More Information

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Finest Norman castles in Italy

Exploring the History of Northern Poland

Discovering Slovenia's Historic Wonders

Historic Site of the week

Visby Cathedral