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PERTOSA-AULETTA CAVES

Località Muraglione, 18/20, 84030 Pertosa SA

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Reach places

TRANSPORTS

  • CAR

    Via A1/E45 or A24, exit Petina. Take SS19 delle Calabrie/SS19 in the direction of Via Muraglione at Muraglione

  • BUS

    Via Sita Sud line 5281 "Salerno-Aut.-Battipaglia-Eboli- sv. aut. Campagna - sv. aut. Sic. -Pertosa", get off at the "Pertosa" stop and walk for 20 minutes

  • TRAIN

    From Salerno: take the regional train towards Potenza Centrale and get off at Buccino S.Gregorio Magno. From there continue on foot to the bus stop indicated

    From Naples: take the regional train in the direction of Taranto and get off at Sicignano degli Alburni. Proceed on foot in an easterly direction towards SP36. Once in Sicignano take the Sita bus 5281 and get off at Bivio Pertosa

An underground basilica set in rock

Located in the Alburni Mountains, the Pertosa-Auletta Caves are a karst complex located in Campania (under the province of Salerno) that represent one of the area’s great turist attractions, combining beauty and respect for the natural envoironment.

Steeped in history and archaeology, they are the epitome of local and international history, having attracted the attention of scolars from different parts of the world. Thanks to the presence of the Nigro River, that flows through them and is navigable for some stretches, thay can be visited for evocative guided boat tours.

Originating from the force of the water that carved their tunnels, the Caves extend horizontally for about 3Km inside the mountain. Thanks to the presence of the Nigro River, they are the only one navigable caves of Italy, perfecly equipped for turist visits through boats pulled by a system of steel cables.

As you go deeper, you can discover rooms with evocative names such as Wonder Branch, the Great Hall, the throne Room and the Paradise Branch. Everywhere one is surronded by stalactites and stalagmites, reflections and glows due to calcite, the purest calcium carbonate that sparkles like diamonds. Rock concretions take on bizzarre shapes.

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  • The earliest recors of the Caves date back to prehistoric times, going as far back as Bronze Age, when some men, attracted by the large natural entrance, estabilished their home in the Caves. It was an ideal place, given the abindance of water and the geographical shape of the land, wich provided a natural refiuge. It was precisely the abundance of water, however, that could have posed a problem, as primitive populations needed to shelter their flocks in a dry place protected form predators. Therfore they invented a new type of dwelling built on oak and durmast poles, called “ritti”, fixed in the riverbed. Crossbeams were placed on them to form a kind of platform with square modules on which to place a baked clay “floor”, ideal for lighting fires.
  • We have to wait until the 16th century for news about the Pertosa-Auletta Caves, precisely the 1526, when Leandro Alberti, a famous humanist, monk and theologian from Bologna carried out an expedition that crossed the entire Vallo di Diano, describing it as resembling a boat.
  • In 2019 a stalactite and a stalagmite “touched” each other after millennia, originating the romantic Kiss of Rock.
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Glimpses and perspectives

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