Italy is know for a lot of things – pizza, pasta, the Colosseum, gelato, and Ferrari. But did you know Italy is also one of the countries that has the most caves on Earth? More than 35,000 in fact! And the Friuli Venezia Giulia, the little region in the north of Italy that we call home, is home to the Guinness Book of World Records holder for the largest tourist cave on Earth, the Grotta Gigante.
Grotta Gigante, translated, simply means giant cave, and that it indeed is! It is a single cavern that is estimated to be around 10 million years old and stretches an astounding 280 meters long, 65 meters wide and 107 meters high. The cave is part of a huge underground system that enters the karst in Škocjanske Jame, Slovenia.
Though Grotta Gigante is a show cave and you won’t have to don a pair of overalls and a headlamp for some real spelunking like we did in Budapest or Carlsbad Caverns, it is definitely not the easiest cave to visit. There’s no electric train to zip you 5 kilometers in like the Postojna Caves in Slovenia. Visits are only possible with Grotta Gigante’s specialized guides and visitors enter through the natural opening discovered in 1890, which has since been modified for tourist access since 1908. You will have to navigate down 500 steps to the cave floor at about 80 meters deep. The steps are divided into comfortable ramps, but remember, down is always easier. You’ll still have to navigate back up another 500 steps at the end of the tour.
Tours last about 45 minutes once you reach the cave floor and electric lighting and a wide path make for a pleasant visit to observe the stalactites, stalagmites, and calcite flows. The largest stalagmite column is 12 meters high and named Ruggiero after an early explorer. At a rate that stalagmites form 1 millimeter ever 15 years, it is thought that Ruggiero is somewhere around 200,000 years old. The different minerals present make the cave an array of reds, whites, and grays. At the center of the enormous room, you can spot the tools being used to study crustal movement by the University of Trieste and the National Institute of Oceanography and Experimental Geophysics.
The tour ends going up the 500 steps the Charles Finocchiaro Path, which has only been open since 1997. This is where the very first explorers descended from in 1840 and the platforms offer an amazing view over the whole cavern.
Know Before You Go
- Grotta Gigante is open Tuesday – Sunday October to March from 10am – 4pm and April to September 10am – 6pm. Tour start on the hour every hour.
- Admission is €11 for adults, €8 for children 6 – 16 years of age, €1 for children 3 – 5 years of age, and free for children under 3.
Ellen Lafleche-Christian says
Wow very cool. That must have been amazing to visit.
Ali says
Wow, that’s a lot of stairs!
Jennifer Dombrowski says
Thank goodness the cave is a cool 11 degrees Celsius inside, because 500 stairs up nearly a kilometer is a workout!
Stef says
wow!These photos are amazing!
Jennifer Dombrowski says
Thanks, Stef! We only managed a couple. They allow photos in the cave, but only at certain points for safety reasons.
Leigh says
Hard to imagine the thrill of discovering a cave of this size – and then all the exploring that gets done with headlamps. Looks like an interesting spot to visit – and get some exercise.
Jennifer Dombrowski says
It’s all lit up now with electric lighting so tourists can grasp the full size, but can you imagine just discovering this cave with a headlamp back in the 1800s? It must have been hard to grasp the sheer size!
Ron Danforth says
I had no idea Italy had this other incredible superlative too! That cave is amazing! I can’t even imagine exploring and moving around in a place that big that is totally underground. It looks like so much fun. Great spotlight! Now I have another reason to visit Italy!
Katherine Belarmino says
We visited the Škocjanske Jame caves in Slovenia, but I didn’t realize they were part of a cave system that extends into Italy! I am a big fan of visiting caves. Great pictures of Grotta Gigante!
Jennifer Dombrowski says
Thanks, Katherine! The cave system must be huge. I’m sure there are yet to be discovered caves part of that system.
Jennifer says
Pretty neat we have such an amazing cave system only about an hour from our house!
Mica says
We love visiting caves like this, the ones in Borneo are gigantic as well. I think one of them has some kind of record also. Impressive, and so close to you, how lucky!
Jennifer Dombrowski says
Oh, cool Mica! We’re hearing so much about Borneo lately. We’d like to go next year as part of our Braving It For Bears project to help educate on the plight of the Sun Bear. The caves sound like something to check out too!
Linda Dini Jenkins says
I'll add another "Wow!" Not sure I could do it, though, with my vertigo and claustrophobia issues… I had enough of a time at Montecatini Terme's Grotta Giusti!
Lise Beane says
Awesome and then some! Lise
Jennifer says
It's a huge open cavern, so claustrophobia probably wouldn't be an issue. But the vertigo very may well do you in with the stairs. We'll have to check out Montecatini Terme's Grotta Giusti!
Jennifer says
Lise Beane Sure is!
Laurel says
Cool! I love caves and didn’t realize that Italy had so many of them. Will have to check this one out when I’m visiting in October.
Jennifer Dombrowski says
I’ve never been to so many caves in my life as since we moved to Europe! I just heard about another I want to check out that is about 3 hours away. Incredible there are so many here in Italy.