Seniors Search Out the BIG ONES

The Grotta Gigante “Giant Cave” is a magnificent cave. Its central cavern, 351 ft high and 213 ft wide, makes it the world’s largest tourist cave. Perhaps you senior citizens have taken in some great caverns in your day, but this one, they say, tops them all. And get this, St Peter’s Basilica could fit inside. Many stalactites and stalagmites… the largest is 12 meters high.

Actually there is some debate today as to what “largest cave” means. The Han Son Goong cave, discovered in 1990 in Vietnam, is said to be much larger. Mammoth Cave in Kentucky is still the world’s longest at 390 miles in length and some say that it could be as long as 1,000 miles. Krubera Cave on the Black Sea coast is the deepest at 1.2 miles and may be even deeper.

This visitor called Grotta Gigante “breathtaking”. He notes that, “It was not a first cave I had ever seen, but this one is the most spectacular underground view I have ever seen indeed. Not for the variety of natural phenomena which other caves may have, but for the sparsely lit dark volume that can be taken by a single sight. It was so unusual that I found myself thinking that I perceive what I see like a computer generated image, rather than as a work of nature. Truly breathtaking and definitely worth the visit.”

 Italian Cave Interests Senior Spelunkers

Another writes “The Grotta Gigante, combined with the wonderful ride on the Tram di Opicina, plus bus #42, was a great way to see a unique Italian sight without crowds. It was an active adventure with the 500 steps down, crossing the floor of the cave and the 500 steps up! The guide said he could only speak Italian and played an English tape at strategic points in the tour so we knew for sure what we were seeing.”

Italians knew about the cave long before there was an Italy. But there wasn’t much written about it until a series of explorations conducted in the 1800s. That’s probably because the cave wasn’t easy to explore until modern spelunking techniques and equipment were introduced.

Be prepared to get a bit of a workout –  500 steps down and another 500 back up. So you can skip the fitness area in your hotel and make up for it at Grotta Gigante. The tour takes 50 minutes and remember to bring a sweater to ward off the year-round chill.

The first exploration of Grotta Gigante goes back to 1840 and in 1890 a second entrance was discovered. The cave was developed for tourism in 1904. This Base Jump fellow made the first ever dive into the cave and it’s in slow motion so that you don’t miss a thing.  And he made it okay. Crazy huh? Let’s enjoy the cave together while we enjoy our coffee.  jeb