Hi guys, here I am to tell you about the Frasassi Caves, I had already mentioned something in a previous post but now I show you my little journey in this fairytale place, out of time, out of civilization.
I took advantage of a rainy day to go to this place, I'm not good what awaited me but I think it was the best choice I could make, I will carry this memory inside for my whole life, it does not often happen to see similar places indeed it never happens unless you go looking.
Here what we know of modern civilization disappears leaving room only for dreams and wonder, even the story of how these caves were found is crazy and this year in just a few days they will be 50 years after their discovery.
Kilometers and kilometers of wonders both below and above! let's start with the journey!
This year it is fifty years since the discovery of this wonder, on 23 September 1971 Rolando Silvestri, a student of the "Gruppo Speleologico Marchigiano CAI of Ancona" in training he comes across a hole in the ground as big as a football where cold air came out.
Rolando is not a speleologist or rather he is not an expert speleologist but he has friends who are and so he decides to contact them to try to enter this hole and find out what is inside. The leakage of air indicated that there was a cavity and who knows what else ...
Thus, equipped with what was the equipment of those times, he returned on 25 September to begin exploration.
It was not easy to enter and discover the various rooms of the cave, imagine these boys aged between 18 and 25 armed with torches in front of a small flame that could illuminate a couple of meters in front of them, some ropes and harness.
A couple of meters! But here we are talking about well over a couple of meters, we are talking about hundreds of meters !!
The main hall called "Abisso Ancona" (180x120 meters) can contain the Duomo of Milan both in height and in width, immense even if once you enter the sense of dimensions they get lost and you just can't understand how it could fit the entire Duomo.
The first time they managed to break through and enter, they couldn't get off, they never would have imagined such a big thing !! To get a sense of size and depth, they threw a stone that took 5 seconds to hit the ground, so after some calculations, they realized they were about 120 meters above the ground. They had to go out and return with other equipment because what they had was not enough and finally they managed to descend into the immense room and from there they discovered caves that led to other rooms but not only to other floors.
To date they measure 20 kilometres in length and several rooms in addition to the one already mentioned, the "Great Grotto of the Wind", "Hall 200" so-called for the corridor of 200 meters that composes it, the "Hall of Candles" composed of numerous small stalagmites, the "Sala Bianca" here seems to be in a snow-covered cave while in reality, it is all white due to the numerous layers of pure calcite, the "Hall of the Bear" for the enormous rock whose profile looks like a 'bear, yes to the feminine because as the constellation of the bear is a guide for sailors and non-sailors, this rock has been the reference for speleologists.
And again, the "Hall of the Witches" where a complex of stalagmites if illuminated project the face of a witch against the wall of the cave, the room of infinity where the boys got lost and turned around several times before understanding it, and the "Hall of the Pagliai".
Stalactites and Stalagmites create strange shapes inside the caves, and with the image, you can see various figures, such as the face of "Santa Claus" or the "Shepherd and the Sheep", the "Seven Dwarfs" and many other shapes that the imagination a little recommend.
Along the way, you come across small lakes and as the guide explained you can also meet some species of animals that we, unfortunately, or fortunately do not know, have not seen.
The Frasassi Caves are a very suggestive place. Once you have crossed the long artificial tunnel created to allow access to visitors, the large iron doors close behind us to keep out hot air and with them you leave real life behind for a moment, to enter a fairy tale because you truly enter a place out of time and out of civilization. We enter and our eyes open wide in wonder, our mouth opens in amazement and so we stay all the way.
Inside the cave there are constant 14 degrees centigrade, I had a sweatshirt but in the long run, a windbreaker is preferable.
Perhaps even the little oxygen and the percentage of carbon dioxide present inside distort reality a bit hahaha !!.
Let's clarify a small concept that is often forgotten, stalactites are those that grow from top to bottom while stalagmites are the opposite from bottom to top.
They can be of various colours depending on the materials contained by the small drops that filter inside and are not to be touched because it would irreversibly stop the growth process of these wonders or "die" as they are.
It is also possible to calculate the age of these limestone formations, calculating that they grow about one millimetre per year, inside there are millenary stalagmites that reach twenty meters even if as mentioned before the dimensions inside are lost and seem little more than a couple of meters.
These are the photos that I managed to take inside with the little light present but which I think give an idea of the fascinating and enchanting place it is!
I think it is a place to visit, one of the most grandiose and fascinating routes not to be missed.
The photos are shots of the author owned by him.
