Grotta dell'Angelo

Grotta di Pertosa - Grotta di San Michele Arcangelo - Grotte di Pertosa-Auletta

Useful Information

Location:	Località Muraglione, 18/20, 84030 Pertosa SA. Near Pertosa. A3 (E45) south of Napoli, exit Polla. SS 191e towards Pertosa, across motorway, turn left. Follow SS19 through Muraglione, turn left at sign. Signposted. (40.536808, 15.455450)
Open:	JAN to MAR Tue-Fri 10-15:30, Sat, Sun 10-16. APR to MAY Mon-Fri 11-17, Sat, Sun, Hol 10-17. JUN to AUG daily 10-18. SEP daily 10-17. OCT Tue-Sun 10-17. NOV to DEC Tue-Fri 10-15:30, Sat, Sun 10-16. In general, hourly tours on the full hour, additional tour if necessary. Exact times see the online booking system. [2024]
Fee:	Adults EUR 18, Children (6-15) EUR 13, Children (0-5) EUR 1, Students EUR 13, Seniors (65+) EUR 13, Disabled free, Geo-Scientists EUR 13. Groups (20+): reductions available. Cave Trekking tours: Per Person EUR 35. Online booking mandatory. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Cave river cave. Cave Church St. Michael Caves Karst Spring Geoparco Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni The Most Expensive Show Cave
Light:	LED Coloured Light
Dimension:	L=2,560 m, T=15 °C, A=263 m asl.
Guided tours:	D=60 min, L=1,000 m. V=60,000/a [2000] V=94,200/a [2008]
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	yes
Bibliography:	F. La Rocca (2017): Tra pietra e acqua, archeologia nelle Grotte di Pertosa-Auletta. Studi e ricerche 2014-2016 pdf S. Cafaro, S. Bravi (2014): Tesori ipogei: alla scoperta delle Grotte di Pertosa-Auletta pdf
Address:	Fondazione Mida, Musei Integrati dell’Ambiente, via Muraglione 18/20, 84030 Pertosa, Tel: +39-0975-397037. E-mail: E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

12th century	used as church.
1897	first archaeological remains found by Paolo Carucci.
1898	excavations by Giovanni Patroni and Paolo Carucci.
1903	begin of the construction works for the hydroelectric power plant, cave entrance flooded after the construction of the dam for the hydroelectric power plant.
15-SEP-1907	hydroelectric power plant inaugurated.
1932	opened to the public.
2004	lowered water level allows archaeological and speleological exploration.
2009	lowered water level allows archaeological and speleological exploration.
2012	cave renamed Grotte di Pertosa-Auletta, new LED light system installed.
2013	lowered water level allows archaeological and speleological exploration.
22-APR-2016	inauguration of the Museo del Suolo (Soil Museum).
2017	cave becomes geosite of the Cilento UNESCO GeoPark.

Description

flowstone and the petrified rim of a former cave lake.

Grotta dell'Angelo was used from the Neolithic Age to the Iron Age by the Palafitte culture. It was used sporadically during the Roman age. The oldest Christian remains found in the cave are of Benedictine origin from the 11th century. They dedicated the cave to San Michele Arcangelo(Arcangel Michael).

The cave is a river cave with a subterranean river named Negro, which emerges from a huge portal, 70 m above the valley floor. The entrance hall contains an altar for San Michele Arcangelo and the pier where boats are entered. The first part of the following passage is filled by a 200 m long subterranean lake, which is crossed on motorless boats. One guide talks to the visitors while another guide pulls the boat along a tightrope, mounted about 2 m above the water level. This is actually the only show cave in italy with a boat ride on a subterranean river. There are several other caves which are entered by boat, but those are sea caves.

Originally, the cave river ran free down the passage and left the cave entrance in a cataract. A dam at the cave entrance increased the water level about three meters and thus flooded the passage with the silent lake. The dammed water is used to produce 370 kW of hydroelectric energy below the cave at the bottom of the valley. This electricity supplies the show cave, the town Pertosa and other villages nearby.

The rest of the cave is dry and toured by foot. Huge chambers and richly decorated passages, which are well lit. The lamps are all white, but show different tones of white, and so the formations and chambers of the main passage give the visitor a feeling of enormous depth. The cave is left through an artificial tunnel at the far end, a paved trail around the hill leads back to the entrance.

The cave is listed as Grotta di Pertosa, because there are dozens of Michael's Caves in southern Italy, and it's impossible to keep them apart. This name was used when we visited the site in the 2000s, it was printed on road signs and on maps. For some reason, the cave is now named Le Grotte di Pertosa-Auletta (The Caves of Pertosa-Auletta). We could not find any info on this rather recent name change, but we guess there was a political necessity. The plural does not make any sense though, this is still a single cave. The cave is now operated by the Fondazione MIdA (Musei Integrati dell’Ambiente), which seems to be a society which operates various museums in the area. In the last century the cave was operated by the municipality Pertosa, but the municipality Auletta was also involved. Over the years, they vanished from the contact page and only MIdA remains as sole operator. The cave is geosite of the “Cilento” Geopark.

There are three different cave tours, which is a result of the way the trails are built. The short tour includes the boat ride and the walk through the dry cave to the artificial exit tunnel. The intermediate tour includes a side passage to see the waterfall across the river, you can see on the photo above right. The long tour includes a second boat ride to the trail along the waterfall you can also see in the picture. Then another dry branch of the cave called Sala del Paradiso is visited, and the tour returns to the main route. A few years ago, the new operator offered only two of the tours. They called them Percorso Completo (Complete Route) and Percorso Parziale (Partial Route). Now they have discontinued the long tour also, and offer only the short tour. As a compensation, they increased the entrance fee again, so the short tour is now almost as expensive as the long tour was the year before.

The cave was equipped with a new light system a few years ago. While this included a spectacular illumination with modern LED lamps, it is now unfortunately also coloured. While we enjoyed the spectacular effect of the old light system, we are not impressed by kitschy blue and red lamps. The light system allows luminous flux regulation both in intensity and color variation. Also, a "VoIP communication system and remote management and supervision were installed", whatever that means. We guess this means that the guides are now able to make a phone call and the groups are monitored by video cameras.

Another change to the worse is the fact that tickets are not sold on site any more. Probably a residual of Covid-19 restrictions, tickets must now be booked online in advance. It's also possible to reserve by phone (only in Italian) or by email, we have no idea how this works.

The tickets now include the cave tour, the Museo del Suolo (Soil Museum) and the Museo Speleo Archeologico (Speleo Archaeological Museum, Sparch). The museums can be visited in the 48 hours following the visit to the cave. Both are visited on guided tours twice daily.

The Museo Speleo Archeologico (Speleo Archaeological Museum, Sparch) is dedicated to the archaeology of the cave. Paolo Carucci visited the cave in September 1897, and he found fragments of rough ceramics and various bone remains. This was the beginning of the archaeological excavations at the cave. The first archaeological excavations in the cave were carried out in 1898. The scholars Giovanni Patroni, the Deputy Inspector of the National Museum of Naples, and Paolo Carucci, a doctor passionate about archaeology, separately excavated different spots in the huge entrance. The archaeological excavations went on in the late 19th century, but they ended in the early 20th century when the hydroelectric power plant was built. The floor of the entrance hall was flooded and effectively prevented any further investigation until 2004. In the years 2004, 2009 and 2013 the water level was lowered, and the archaeologists had the chance to excavate the cave sediments. The most spectacular discovery was a Bronze Age village which was built on wooden platforms which were placed on stilts in the cave floor and were thus protected from floods.