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:

Comments

Your name



Details

Founded: 18,000 BCE
Category: Prehistoric and archaeological sites in Italy

More Information

en.wikipedia.org

Rating

4.7/5 (based on Google user reviews)

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.
Powered by Google

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Historic Site of the week

Church of St Donatus

The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.

The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.

The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.