FRASASSI CAVES
The Grotte di Frasassi are underground karst caves that are located inside the Gola della Rossa e di Frasassi regional natural park (certified with the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism) in the municipality of Genga, in the province of Ancona.
The caves were discovered on 25 September 1971 by the CAI speleological group of Ancona.
In 1972, the Frasassi Consortium was set up by the municipality of Genga and by the Province of Ancona, with the aim of safeguarding and enhancing the complex of the Frasassi Caves.
Inside the karst cavities, you can admire natural sculptures formed by limestone stratifications over the course of 190 million years, thanks to the work of water and rock.
The water, flowing on the limestone, dissolves small quantities of limestone and falling to the ground, in the course of a trickle that lasts millennia, deposits them and forms concretions of significant dimensions and sometimes even particular shapes.
These are divided into stalagmites (columns that grow from bottom to top) and stalactites (which instead descend from the ceiling of the cave).
The shapes and dimensions of these natural statues have stimulated the imagination of speleologists, who after discovering they have baptized them, naming them in a curious way; among the most famous stalactites and stalagmites we mention: the "Giants", the "Cammello" and the "Dromedario", the "Orsa", the "Madonnina", the "Sword of Damocles" (7.40 m high stalactite height and 150 cm in diameter), "Niagara Falls", the "Slice of bacon" and the "Slice of lard", the "Obelisk" (stalagmite 15 m high in the center of Room 200), the "Canne d' Organ" (conical-lamellar concretions that resound if struck), the "Castello delle Streghe".
Inside the caves there are also small lakes in which the dripping water stagnates and "wells", cylindrical cavities up to 25 m deep which can collect water or convey it towards lower karst plains.
The visit to the cave lasts 70 minutes.
The groups are accompanied by professional guides provided by the Frasassi Consortium.
The route is 1,500 meters long; it is well equipped and easily accessible.
The internal temperature is a constant 14 °C.
Information on the history of the discovery of the caves can be found by contacting the Marche Speleological Group CAI of Ancona.
Not far from the caves, we find the Romanesque abbey of San Vittore delle Chiuse, dating back to the 11th century, one of the most important examples of Romanesque architecture in the Marche region.
The Paleontological and Archaeological Speleo Museum of Genga is set up in the monastery of the Abbey of San Vittore and preserves the famous ichthyosaurus of Genga, a marine reptile about 3 meters long, similar in appearance to a dolphin, which lived in the Upper Jurassic, about 150 million of years ago.
It is a long itinerary in which a surreal landscape has blossomed, an enchanted world that takes us back to the origins of nature.
An uncontaminated, hidden and beautiful environment, made of suggestive spaces and rich in extraordinary concretions.
The caves were discovered on 25 September 1971 by the CAI speleological group of Ancona.
In 1972, the Frasassi Consortium was set up by the municipality of Genga and by the Province of Ancona, with the aim of safeguarding and enhancing the complex of the Frasassi Caves.
Inside the karst cavities, you can admire natural sculptures formed by limestone stratifications over the course of 190 million years, thanks to the work of water and rock.
The water, flowing on the limestone, dissolves small quantities of limestone and falling to the ground, in the course of a trickle that lasts millennia, deposits them and forms concretions of significant dimensions and sometimes even particular shapes.
These are divided into stalagmites (columns that grow from bottom to top) and stalactites (which instead descend from the ceiling of the cave).
The shapes and dimensions of these natural statues have stimulated the imagination of speleologists, who after discovering they have baptized them, naming them in a curious way; among the most famous stalactites and stalagmites we mention: the "Giants", the "Cammello" and the "Dromedario", the "Orsa", the "Madonnina", the "Sword of Damocles" (7.40 m high stalactite height and 150 cm in diameter), "Niagara Falls", the "Slice of bacon" and the "Slice of lard", the "Obelisk" (stalagmite 15 m high in the center of Room 200), the "Canne d' Organ" (conical-lamellar concretions that resound if struck), the "Castello delle Streghe".
Inside the caves there are also small lakes in which the dripping water stagnates and "wells", cylindrical cavities up to 25 m deep which can collect water or convey it towards lower karst plains.
The visit to the cave lasts 70 minutes.
The groups are accompanied by professional guides provided by the Frasassi Consortium.
The route is 1,500 meters long; it is well equipped and easily accessible.
The internal temperature is a constant 14 °C.
Information on the history of the discovery of the caves can be found by contacting the Marche Speleological Group CAI of Ancona.
Not far from the caves, we find the Romanesque abbey of San Vittore delle Chiuse, dating back to the 11th century, one of the most important examples of Romanesque architecture in the Marche region.
The Paleontological and Archaeological Speleo Museum of Genga is set up in the monastery of the Abbey of San Vittore and preserves the famous ichthyosaurus of Genga, a marine reptile about 3 meters long, similar in appearance to a dolphin, which lived in the Upper Jurassic, about 150 million of years ago.
It is a long itinerary in which a surreal landscape has blossomed, an enchanted world that takes us back to the origins of nature.
An uncontaminated, hidden and beautiful environment, made of suggestive spaces and rich in extraordinary concretions.