Saturday 28^th May - It was an early start this morning, we were up for 6.30am and after breakfast headed off for a visit to ‘The Caves of Castellana’. Located on the outskirts of the town of Castellana at the entrance to the Itria Valley, a few kilometres from the charming villages of Alberobello, Cisternino and Polignano a Mare.

The entrance is via an enormous vertical tunnel some 200 ft long which opens into a huge chamber called "La Grave.”

The cave system extends for 2 miles underground and reaches a depth of just over half a mile.

Our guide was telling us that the Grotte di Castellana began to form about 90 million years ago, although the caves were only discovered quite recently as cave systems go. Back in 1938 speleologist Franco Anelli had wondered why a large opening above a cavern which the local used to drop their bags of rubbish and waste products, never got full. He dug a route through all the rubbish and entered the cave and discovered a whole new underground system. The limestone caves are 3 kilometres in length and more than 60 metres deep and form Italy’s longest natural complex of subterranean caves. Remarkably dry for a cave system they offer spectacular views of speleothems, stalactites, and stalagmites. They used to be known by the local people as Hell’s Gate or the Devil’s House, a place where the spirits of the dead are wandering. Unfortunately, on our visit we were restricted to a walk and scramble in ‘The Grave’ and photography was not allowed any where else in the system.