Blog #12 – Les Grotti di Toirano

For Blog #12 Giulio recommends a Cabernet wine from Bordeaux aged in a cask for 12 months and I must agree with him, even though it is not a Tuscan wine.

I had read about the caves of Toirano in one of our guide books when we were planning our Italian adventure and had hoped that we could stop in to view them since they were just off the Autostrada (toll highway) between Monaco and Genova.  We got off to a late start from Monaco because we wanted to stroll around Monte Carlo for at least an hour on the morning of October 1 and also because we wanted to enjoy the luxurious hot buffet breakfast that came with our room, including bacon, eggs, sausages, fresh fruit, crepes, Canadian maple syrup and much more.

The Toirano Caves are located in a chalky area at the end of the Vero Valley. More than 70 caves are known in this area. As the plural in the name shows, there are several different caves. The main system consists of four primary caves:  Grotta della Bàsura, Grotta della Strega (Witches cave), Grotta del Colombo (Pigeon Cave), and Grotta di San Lucia (St. Lucia Cave). The show caves are the Grotta della Bàsura with its prehistoric remains and the lower level of the Grotta di San Lucia. Both are connected by an artificial tunnel. The caves were once visited by prehistoric man, probably 12,000 years ago. Very interesting are the hand and foot prints from Neanderthals, with many children’s handprints.  (This information was taken from http://www.liguriapocket.com/en/t/Toirano_Caves.htm). 

The caves also contain many bones of prehistoric cave bears that we saw as well as formations that are not found in any other caves in the world.  Here are some of the pictures that we took in the caves during our guided tour.  We were part of a group of 15 tourists with our guide Mirco seen in the picture below.  He spoke excellent English and was able to provide bilingual commentary throughout the tour.  We were not allowed to wander through the caves on our own for safety reasons.  Mirco turned lights on and off as we progressed through the caves.

Sandy with our Guide Mirco after the tour.

Bones of the cave bear.

Footprints of prehistoric man (or woman) in the Toirano Caves.

This stalactite/stalagmite severed itself in the middle during an earthquake in 1968.  Our guide said that there was no danger of it breaking and falling down.

These formations are called the "organ" and have not been found in caves anywhere else in the world.

The stalactite/stalagmite in the middle is over 8 metres tall and took millions of years to form.  Our guide showed us one that was 2 cm long in another part of the cave that researchers have been observing since it started growing 40 years ago.  The stalactite and stalagmite on the left look close to each other, but our guide said that they will never meet up and join together.

At the entrance ("ingresso") to the caves.