Top 20 Caves トスカーナでの

Via Cava di San Roccoは、この地域で最も印象的なエトルリア時代の通路の1つです。この小道は完全に凝灰岩に掘られており、高さ20メートルに達する垂直な壁には、シダや苔の豊かな植生が生い茂っています。 このルートは、レンテ川の谷と上部の高原を結んでいます。登り道に沿って、古代の水路システムや岩に刻まれた階段があります。上端に到達すると、ソラーノの町とオルシーニ要塞の最も象徴的な景色を眺めることができるサン・ロッコ展望エリアに到着します。壁の涼しい微気候のため、地面は湿っていて滑りやすい場合があります。

Through a very narrow, high gorge (can be damp in spring), you finally reach this oratory via steps.

The exhibition grounds are definitely worth a visit and can be easily combined with a circular hike from Sovana.

You can also visit the excavations on a circular hike from Sorana. The €7.00 is definitely worth it for this very interesting site.

The rupestrian (cave) oratory is located at the top of the San Sebastiano via cava and consists of two irregular rooms, the walls of the chambers were engraved with many Latin crosses, including one on a small mountain that probably represents Golgotha. The oratory was almost certainly realized by using one of the many existing archaic tombs in the upper part of the via Cava, many of which are still visible. In fact, it was common for the monks and Christian hermits of the Middle Ages to take advantage of the remote location of these environments to reach the small places of worship suitable for prayer and meditation. From the various openings in the oratory you can see the wall of the via Cava and the remains of some Etruscan tombs looted in ancient times.

Nice climb, breathtaking panorama!

The name of this place is linked to the local tradition of using caves for food preservation. The rocks and the shade of the forest help to isolate the cavities from the outside, maintaining a constant low temperature. It was also common to fill the caves with snow during the winter to increase their cooling power during the warmer months. Even today it is possible to appreciate the difference in temperature between the outside and the inside, especially during the summer.

The Vie Cave, sometimes also called Cavoni, form a suggestive road system from the Etruscan era that connects various settlements and necropolises between Pitigliano, Sovana and Sorano. They mainly develop between steep tuff rock walls, some of which exceed twenty meters in height. In Roman times, these streets became part of a road network connected to the main trunk of the Via Clodia, an ancient road that connected Rome to Saturnia, passing through the city of Tuscania and branching off from the Via Cassia in Lazio. The Via Cava di San Giuseppe is one of the most evocative in the area, as well as the longest, leading up to Pitigliano. This street is associated with the traditional torchlight procession of San Giuseppe, which is held on March 19th. The link between ancient pagan rites and the dark atmosphere along the route, which still persists today, dates back to Christian times, when small niches with painted sacred images, known as "devil chasers", were dug to protect travellers.