Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and slippery. Located 40km southeast of Salerno, the cave is refreshingly non-commer-
cial.
Excavations have revealed that the caves were inhabited 42,000 years ago, making it
the oldest settlement in Europe. Although they extend over 4800m, only around half of
the cave complex is open to the public. The standard one-hour tour winds through a route
surrounded by extraordinary stalagmites and stalactites, and a mesmerising play of col-
ours, caused by algae, calcium and iron that tint the naturally sculpted rock shapes.
The tour culminates in a cavernous lunar landscape - think California's Death Valley in
miniature - called the Caverna di Bertarelli (Bertarelli Cavern). The caves are still inhab-
ited - by bats - and visitors are instructed not to take flash photos for fear of blinding
them. There are longer three-hour tours (€18) between May and September when the wa-
ter deep within the cave complex has dried up. Hard hats, and a certain level of fitness and
mobility, are required.
Grotte dell'Angelo
( 0975 39 70 37;
www.grottedellangelo.sa.it
;
Pertosa; guided visits adult/reduced €13/
10; 9am-7pm; )
Compared to the Grotta di Castelcivita, the Grotta dell'Angelo
is a youngster, dating back a mere 35 million years to the Neolithic period and only dis-
covered in 1932. Used by the Greeks and Romans as places of worship, the caves burrow
through the mountains for some 2500m, with long underground passages and lofty grot-
toes filled with a mouthful of stalagmites and stalactites.
The first part of the tour takes part as a boat (or raft) ride on the river; you disembark
just before the waterfall (phew!) and continue on foot for around 800m, surrounded by
marvellous rock formations and luminous crystal accretions. This grotto is more commer-
cial than Castelcivita, with souvenir shops, bars and a €3 parking fee.
CAVE
Certosa di San Lorenzo
( 0975 77 74 45; Padula; adult/reduced €4/2; 9am-7.30pm)
One of the largest
monasteries in southern Europe, the Certosa di San Lorenzo dates from 1306 and covers
250,000 sq metres. Numerologists can swoon at the following: 320 rooms and halls,
2500m of corridors, galleries and hallways, 300 columns, 500 doors, 550 windows, 13
courtyards, 100 fireplaces, 52 stairways and 41 fountains - in other words, it is
huge.
As you will unlikely have time to see everything here, be sure to visit the highlights, in-
cluding the vast central courtyard (a venue for summer classical-music concerts), the mag-
nificent wood-panelled library, frescoed chapels and the kitchen with its grandiose fire-
place and famous tale: apparently this is where the legendary 1000-egg omelette was
MONASTERY
