GROTTE DI FRASASSI
The Frasassi Caves are underground karst caves located within the Gola della Rossa and Frasassi Regional Natural Park (certified with the European Charter for Sustainable Tourism) in the municipality of Genga, in the province of Ancona.
The discovery of the Frasassi Caves dates back to 25 September 1971 by the speleological group of the CAI of Ancona.
In 1972, the Frasassi Consortium was established by the municipality of Genga and 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 calcareous stratifications over 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 dripping that lasts millennia, deposits them and forms concretions of considerable size and sometimes even curious shapes.
These are divided into stalagmites (columns that grow progressing from the bottom upwards) and stalactites (which instead descend from the ceiling of the cavities).
The shapes and dimensions of these natural works have stimulated the imagination of speleologists, who after having discovered them have "baptized" them, naming them in a curious way; among the most famous stalactites and stalagmites we remember: the "Giants", the "Camel" and the "Dromedary", the "Bear", the "Madonnina", the "Sword of Damocles" (stalactite of 7.40 m height and 150 cm in diameter), "Niagara Falls", the "Slice of bacon" and the "Slice of lard", the "Obelisk" (15 m high stalagmite in the center of Room 200), the "Canne d ' Organ ”(conical-lamellar concretions that resound when struck), the“ Castle of the Witches ”.
Inside the caves there are also lakes in which the water from the dripping stagnates and "wells", cylindrical cavities up to 25 m deep that can collect water or convey it to lower karst floors.
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 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, stands 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.
The paleontological and archaeological museum of Genga is housed in the monastery of the Abbey of San Vittore (11th century) and preserves the famous ichthyosaur of Genga, a marine reptile about 3 meters long, with a dolphin-like appearance, which lived in the upper Jurassic , about 150 million years ago.