Grotte di Castelcivita
Castelcivita (SA)
FamousNature

The story
Among the oldest prehistoric dwellings in the South, these caves burrow into the heart of the Alburni with galleries of stalagmites and chambers that the darkness stretches to infinity.
Access
€ guided tours
The story
The Grotte di Castelcivita, at the foot of the Alburni mountains in the Cilento National Park, are one of the most extensive karst complexes in southern Italy. Carved into the rock over millennia, they have yielded traces of prehistoric human presence among the oldest in the South.
What to see
An underground route among stalactites, stalagmites, monumental halls and concretions with fanciful names, in a world of rock sculpted by water. It is one of the great show caves of Campania.
Hours and prices
Free entry.
Tips
They are visited only with a guided tour, at fixed departures: it is best to book and check hours and routes on the operator's site, which change with the season. Inside the temperature is low and constant (around 15 °C): bring a sweatshirt and shoes with soles suited to the damp.
Frequently asked questions
How do you visit the Grotte di Castelcivita?
Only with a guided tour at fixed departures: it is best to book and check hours and routes on the operator's site, which vary with the season.
What temperature is there in the Grotte di Castelcivita?
Low and constant, around 15 °C: a sweatshirt is needed even in summer, and shoes suited to the damp floor.
Where are the Grotte di Castelcivita?
At Castelcivita, at the foot of the Alburni mountains, in the Cilento National Park.
More gems: Nature
◆ NatureOrto Botanico
via Foria
Founded in the Napoleonic age, the botanical garden on via Foria lines up glasshouses, palms and rare species across twelve hectares: a green breath a step away from the traffic.
◆ NaturePedamentina di San Martino
Vomero→centro
A fourteenth-century stairway dropping from the hill of San Martino down to the city: hundreds of steps through vegetable plots, gardens and glimpses of the bay — one of the finest urban paths in Naples.
NatureVilla Comunale
Riviera di Chiaia
The garden stretched out along the sea at Chiaia: avenues of holm oaks, benches and old statues, with the gulf breathing beyond the iron railing.
NatureAcquario Anton Dohrn
Riviera di Chiaia
The oldest aquarium in Europe, opened in 1874 inside the Villa Comunale: historic tanks inhabited only by the fauna of the Gulf of Naples, behind the glass.
NatureSolfatara
Pozzuoli
The ground breathes: hissing fumaroles, mud that boils up and a smell of sulphur reminding you how alive the earth is beneath the Campi Flegrei.
- ◆ Nature
Vigna di San Martino
collina S. Martino
One of the largest urban vineyards in Europe, worked by the Carthusians since the fourteenth century: seven hectares of vines, citrus and olive trees hanging over the bay, a step from the city's chaos.