Aeolian Cave

Cesi door of Umbria door of wonders

The Cesi area is particularly rich in caves that have been explored by the Terre Arnolfe Speological Group.

Among those known, the most famous is the Aeolian Cave, the entrance of which is inside Stocchi Palace and can be visited for a length of 150 metres. 

The name Aeol (from Aeolus keeper of the winds) derives from the large quantity of air that flows out every month of the year.

The Aeolian Cave could be the lower entrance to an underground system that could have its upper access in the St. Erasmo plateau (790m a.s.l.), or even higher up on the Torre Maggiore mountain (1120 m a.s.l.). On both peaks there are some cavities that might be connected to the Aeolian Cave. In the cavity lives a beetle unique in the world, the “Duvalius Virginiae”. During the Second World War the cave was used as an air raid shelter.

At Christmas an evocative nativity scene is set up in the cave.