From the Karst to the Alps: science and discovery

Moving north-east, the journey touches Friuli Venezia Giulia, where the Grotta Gigante impresses with its huge single hall, so vast that it houses sophisticated scientific pendulums for seismic measurements. A short distance away, the Grotta delle Torri di Slivia offers a "slower" approach: here the adventure begins on board a tractor that drives through the Trieste countryside, leading visitors into an environment rich in stalactites where a protected colony of bats lives. In Lombardy, the Remeron Grotto invites you to an almost fairytale-like visit, which begins with a regenerating walk through the woods before descending into the bowels of the earth. To the north-west, in Piedmont, the Grotta di Bossea stands out for its important underground laboratory dedicated to the study of water, while Liguria offers a plunge into the most ancient history with the Grotte di Toirano, famous for the remains of cave bears and the footprints left by Homo sapiens imprinted in the mud and calcified, dating back some 12,000-14,000 years. Not far away, the Grotte di Borgio Verezzi (Borgio Verezzi Caves) enchant with the reflections of the underground lakes and the chromatic variety of the concretions.