Romanelli cave

The Romanelli cave is one of the natural coastal caves of Salento, near Castro. It was discovered in the early 1900s by Paolo Emilio Stasi.

The cave is only 35 meters long, and there is evidence from the findings that it was a refuge for man in the Paleolithic. It consists of a single large compartment open and visible from the outside. It is more convenient to access from the sea and entry is prohibited.

At the time of its discovery, the cave was not visible as it was hidden by banks of ossiferous breccias and all its internal volume occupied by succession of layers, rich in finds, of red and brown soils of aeolian origin.

Grotta Romanelli has returned stones engraved with a great variety of motifs, chronologically parallel to the Romanellian industry.

Most of these are linear and geometric compositions, among which appear the so-called ribbon ovens with tufted or eyelet ends. The animal subjects are more scarce, often with the body covered with lines. A single stone is painted with overlapping rows of comb-shaped marks. On its walls, moreover, is the figure of a bovid with other fusiform or oval figures and bundles of vertical and oblique lines.

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