Mangiapane Cave, Scurati

In the Scurati area there is a small village overlooked by the rock walls of Monte Cofano, in which natural caves open, some of which were used by local shepherds and farmers.

The largest, the Mangiapane cave, houses inside a tiny village with a long corridor paved with stones and pebbles. It takes its name from the family that lived there, in tiny houses, from 1819 until 1950. About 60 metres high and 70 deep, it was used by humans from the Upper Palaeolithic, as the finds discovered inside it have shown.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the Mangiapane family built five small two-storey houses, a storeroom and two stables; other rooms were created by closing off the back of the cave and a large oven was built. Outside small houses sprang up, and a smaller cave was used to keep the flock.