A magic trip to the heart of the Earth
Rich in different colours, shapes and sizes that arouse amazement and admiration, the Pertosa-Auletta Caves offer a pleasant adventure that combines the wonder of the narration to that of unconquered nature.
History of the caves
The Caves of Pertosa-Auletta delve into the Monti Alburni massif for about three thousand metres. The focal point of the "Cilento" Geopark, it is the only natural cave in Italy where it is possible to take a boat ride on an underground river, the Negro, as well as the only ones in Europe to preserve the remains of a pile-dwelling village dating back to the second millennium BC.
Open to tourists since 1932, the first section of the caves is visited on board a special boat pulled by a steel cable, which is used to reach the rest of the pedestrian path. Over the years, the Pertosa-Auletta Caves have become a natural setting for dramatic tours that combine the experience of theatre with that of a guided tour.
Heritage
The artefacts recovered from the caves, mostly pots and utensils, prove that they were inhabited around the Middle Bronze Age by communities dedicated to sheep farming and the construction of stilts. Today, these artefacts are kept at the National Museum of Prehistory and Ethnography in Rome, the Archaeological Museum of Naples, and the Provincial Museum in Salerno.
Inside of the Caves, there are different great "rooms" and particular conformations due to tectonic phenomena and to the incessant flow and drip of the waters. One of the site's most striking attractions is definitely the so-called "kiss" between stalactites and stalagmites, a meeting between natural elements created over millions of years, since the limestone of which they are composed takes 100 years to grow just one centimetre.
For about eight years, the site hosted "Dante's Inferno in the Caves", in which a theatre company accompanied visitors through the rocky conformations of the cavities, imagining that they were the ten circles of Dante's Inferno. Currently, the caves are hosting the traveling show "Ulysses: the Journey to Hades", conceived and directed by Francescoantonio Nappi and produced by Il Demiurgo. The show stages the descent of Ulysses into the Underworld in search of the soothsayer Tiresias, but, unlike past performances, there are no guides: the spectator finds himself having the "eyes" and "legs" of the protagonist, following him throughout the search.
The caves have recently installed a new wire broadcasting and projection system that make the cave-theatre a unique experience in the national scene.
