Holiday apartment in Castellana Grotte: discover karst, culture and trails

Holiday apartment in Castellana Grotte: discover an underground landscape and Apulia

Castellana Grotte combines an unusual underground landscape with cultural sites, historic locations and routes through the town and countryside. At its centre are the Grotte di Castellana: this cave is located in the immediate surroundings of Castellana; the Grotte di Castellana are also an underground karst complex in the municipality of Castellana Grotte, in the southeastern Murge area of Apulia.

Grotte di Castellana: tours and impressive dimensions

The corridors, passages and caves of the Grotte di Castellana extend for 3,348 metres at a depth of around 70 metres and reach a maximum depth of 122 metres. A visit to the Grotte di Castellana takes about two hours; this duration can be scheduled as a separate time block when planning the day. Two different tours are available for visitors. Both tours lead through the same underground complex, but offer different forms of sightseeing.

Museum and observatory for curious explorers

The Franco Anelli Museum opened on 23 January 2000. It is named after the speleologist Franco Anelli, who discovered and explored the Castellana caves. The museum houses the Apulian Documentation Centre for Speleology, a specialist speleology library, a specialised periodicals library and a photographic archive. The specialist library, periodicals library and photographic archive complement the documentation centre with written, press-related and visual perspectives on speleology. The Sirio Astronomical Observatory is also located in the Franco Anelli Speleological Museum within the Grotte di Castellana complex. It offers the public activities in astronomy outreach, education and research. The astronomical activities there complement the study of caves and expand the complex’s subject area to include outreach, education and research.

Culture, routes and special local moments

Castellana Grotte also offers various perspectives above ground. The Chiesa di San Leone Magno is the oldest church in Castellana Grotte and dates back to 1200. The urban and rural routes of Castellana Grotte can be explored on foot or by bicycle. The town and countryside thereby appear as two different spaces for the same form of travel. During Le Fanove, hundreds of fires are lit in the historic centre, the built-up area and the countryside of Castellana-Grotte.

Historic sites and destinations in the surrounding region

For further discoveries around Castellana, Torre Nuova, a historic site, and La Specchia grande, a monument, are located nearby. The surrounding area also includes Castiglione, an ancient site, as well as the Civic Museum, a museum, and Grotta del Trullo, a cave. For those interested in culture, historic evidence, a museum and a cave landscape come together here as different subjects in the area around Castellana. In the wider region are Zoosafari Fasanolandia, a zoo, and Spiaggia Marina Grande, a beach.

More destinations for planning your trip

San Bartolomeo, Lamie di Olimpia, Conversano, Triggianello, Torre A Mare, Altamura, Bari and Rutigliano

To the overarching travel overview: Bari.