Grotte di Santa Croce

Useful Information

Location:	SP85, 76011 Bisceglie BT. 7 Km from Bisceglie, northwest of Bari. From Bisceglie city center towards Bari/Ruvo. SS16 exit Bisceglie/Corato. Follow Via Sant’Andrea SP85 towards Corato 5.2 km. Turn right on minor road, after 100 m on the left, small parking lot gravel. Down the staircase, 250 m/10 minutes to the cave. (41.1770556, 16.4691389)
Open:	All year after appointment. Yearly event one week in AUG daily 18-23. [2025]
Fee:
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	A=120 m asl, L=130 m.
Guided tours:	L=40 m, V=6,000/a.
Photography:
Accessibility:
Bibliography:	L. Cardini (1939): Culture paleolitiche della Grotta S. Croce a Bisceglie (Bari). In: Atti della Società Italiana per il Progresso delle Scienze: 28· Riunione, Pisa 1939: 85. Robin Skeates (2012): Constructed Caves: Transformations of the Underworld in Prehistoric Southeast Italy In: Moyes, Holley (ed.). Sacred Darkness: A Global Perspective on the Ritual Use of Caves. University Press of Colorado. pp. 27–44. ISBN 9781607321781. online
Address:	Gruppo Scout di Bisceglie, Via G.Bovio, 49/a, 70052 Bisceglie (BARI), Tel: +39-080-3969233, +39-080-330553303. 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

1937	Francesco Saverio Majellaro mentions the extraordinary importance of the cave by archaeological means.
1938	L. Cardini, president of the Istituto Italiano di Paleontologia Umana (Italian Institute of Human Paleontology) makes a small test excavation, confirms the presence of the Mousterian and Neolithic remains.
1939	L. Cardini and F. S. Majellaro make test excavation on the outside.
1940	F. S. Majellaro excavated three round rocks with engravings, one showing an animal (bovide), from the Upper Paleolithic.
1954	excavation by L. Cardini, P. Cassoli, F. S. Majellaro.
1955	femur of a Neanderthal man discovered.
1958	end of excavations.
1970	further excavations by V. Delfino Pesce from the Università di Bari and C. Giove from the gruppo speleologico Le Nottole di Bergamo.
1975	development as a show cave by the Gruppo Scout di Bisceglie.
1990	opened to the public.
1994	survey of the cave and surroundings by the gruppo speleologico on behalf of the city of Bisceglie.
1997	the team of Prof. Gambassini from the Università di Siena excavates in the cave on behalf of the city of Bisceglie.
1998	the team of Prof. Gambassini from the Università di Siena excavates on behalf of the city of Bisceglie.

Description

This short horizontal cave near Bisceglie is an important archaeological site and has been excavated for more than 70 years now. The main findings are the femur of a Neanderthal man (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis), and the remains of a wooden basket. There was a tool shop of the Mousterian leaving behind 2,200 flint stone tools, and again during the Gravettian. The early excavations in the 1930s were made by archaeologists around L. Cardini, president of the Istituto Italiano di Paleontologia Umana (Italian Institute of Human Paleontology). The findings are on display at the Museo Civico Archeologico at Bisceglie, which is located in the Monastero Santa Croce.

Beneath the archaeological importance, the cave itself is of some speleological interest. It is the former course of an underground river showing many erosional forms like scallops. It also has some nice speleothems.

The cave has been developed for the public by the Gruppo Scout di Bisceglie (Boy Scouts of Bisceglie), in cooperation with the Comune di Bisceglie (City od Bisceglie) and the Soprintendenza Archeologica della Puglia (archaeological authority of Apulia). It is open primarily to school groups and other groups, which can book specific guided tours. Once a year there is a one-week event in the cave named Sagra delle Grotte di S. Croce, typically in the third week in August. During this time the cave is open daily between 18 and 23, it’s possible to visit the archaeological site with educational signs, see the small exhibition for the event and food and drink are offered in front of the cave. The exhibition shows live scenes of neanderthals, which are not 100 % scientifically correct but nevertheless very impressive. We are not aware of other open day, but you might check the Italian website for the European Heritage Day in September.

There is a small car park, which is more or less a wide gravel road, so it may be difficult to find a parking space during events. It’s not far from Bisceglie, think about a taxi. The trail to the cave goes down into the valley on a staircase and the crosses the SP85 under a huge bridge. While this cave is gated and not accessible without a guide, there is a second cave 350 m further down the valley. It is called Grotte del Finestrino and is a cave church ruin. It seems it was used for services, at least on special occasions, until lately. There are a cross in front and a car park, the bridge in front of the cave church has collapsed, but a few meters upstream as well as downstream are footbridges.