One of Italy’s lesser-known destinations, the Grotta Nuova di Villanova (the New Cave of Villanova) offers visitors a spectacular cave experience complete with stalactites, stalagmites, and other rock and mineral formations. The Grotta Nuova is part of the Grotte di Villanova (Villanova Caves), a network of caves in northern Italy that have been explored since the 1800s. Located in the northern Italian town of Lusevera, in the eastern corner of the Julian Alps just miles from the Slovenian border, the Villanova caves are estimated to be millions of years old.
The only one of the Villanova Caves that is open to the public is the Grotta Nuova, which has about 9 5.5 miles of galleries. In 2015 a new portion of the cave opened that features a high and large gallery with calcite flows, a stream, and stalactites. The cave also received a new LED lighting system. The Grotta Nuova is distinct in that it is a karst cave, meaning that it was formed by the erosion of rocks due to the presence underground water, and was formed with two different types of rock.
Water carved out the underground galleries (large, empty spaces in caves that are often filled with stalactites, stalagmites and other formations) and affected the rocks differently, creating several kinds and shapes of formations in the cave. Like all caves, the Villanova Caves maintain a constistent temperature year-round, at about 52 degrees Fahrenheit.
Local resident Pietro Negro discovered the Grotta Nuova in 1925 with a group of workers at the caves when they noticed vapor coming from a crack in the earth. The cave opened to the public in 1984 and hosts guided walking tours and spelunking tours for the more adventurous. Guided tours cost 9 euros, last an hour and 20 minutes and consist of 500 steps to traverse; they are given daily in summer and on weekends in the off season. Visitors can also attend meditation sessions in the cave. The drive from Venice takes about two hours, but there are hotels and restaurants in Lusevera and nearby towns for visitors looking to spend the night.
By Kathy McCabe
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