Top 4 Caves around Civitella Messer Raimondo

Very suggestive caves, with competent and helpful tourist guides; the visit lasts about an hour and covers about 1 km entirely inside the cavities. The temperature is constant around 10°C, with 96% humidity: therefore, adequate clothing is recommended. Located at 1475 meters above sea level, they are reachable both on foot via a path and by a low-cost cable car. Once you get off the cable car, you need to climb about 250 steps to reach the cave entrance. It is important to buy the ticket in advance: visits are exclusively guided and available in specific time slots, which vary depending on the time of year. It is advisable to call before organizing an excursion, as the opening hours of the guided tours are limited.

Here the path leads along the entrance of the grotto and goes steeply uphill opposite.

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Cave not easy to reach, it is surprising that anyone at the time exploited these caves. Passing through it was a nice surprise.

It was said of Him that he died smiling. Andrea Bafile, born in Monticchio, a hamlet of L'Aquila, on 7 October 1878 and died on the Piave front in the night between 11 and 12 March 1918. Below is why he was buried in Guardiagrele (CH). He had to be buried in the monumental cemetery of Venice, Gabriele D'Annunzio pushed hard for this to happen, but two Abruzzo people prevailed over him who managed to bring the body back and buried it, in 1923, with an impressive ceremony at in which around 10 thousand people took part, in the shrine dug in Guardiagrele (Chieti), in the bowels of the Majella. It was Raffarle Paolucci of Orsogna and the Honorable Cristini of Guardiagrele who ensured that instead of any unknown soldier it was Andrea Bafile himself who was buried in the shrine, considering him the example of courage and heroism belonging to three military corps: the Navy, Aviation and Infantry. And it is not clear why no intercession was received from L'Aquila, his hometown. Guardiagrele thus had the honor of hosting Bafile's body, in Bocca di Valle, in a cave which is a place full of suggestions, decorated with the delicate enamelled colors of the majolica by the Ortonese artist Basilio Cascella, three gigantic ceramic panels made up of 1400 tiles, a masterpiece of the art of the founder of the Cascella family. The Guardiagrele cave was dug with the economic participation of all of Abruzzo and Molise, a sort of subscription by both regions, every single citizen paid their own donation to pay homage to the soldier Andrea Bafile. When as a child I asked why a sailor was buried in the mountains, popular wisdom replied that he likes to admire the sea from the mother mountain, the Majella. On 29 and 30 September 2023, at the Bocca di Valle shrine in Guardiagrele, the celebrations for the centenary of the transfer of the remains of Lieutenant Andrea Bafile, hero and gold medal for military valour, with the presence of the Undersecretary of State for Defense with delegation to the Navy, Matteo Perego of Cremnago, together with the commander of the Southern Maritime Command, Admiral. of Division Flavio Biaggi, representing the Navy General Staff, who will join the other civil and military authorities present for the commemoration of the Hero.

The Cave-shrine of Bocca di Valle is located in the eastern Maiella and is a military shrine in memory of the soldiers who died during the Great War. It is an important historic and memorial site, where their sacrifice can be reflected and honored.

The Grotta dei Pulcini is a cave with splendid stalactites and stalagmites. It is possible to observe it from the outside and enjoy a truly breathtaking surrounding panorama. It is easily reachable from Piana delle Melle.