Mt. Cucco Cave has had a complex and long exploration history, whose
evidences are still visible today. Here and there, it is possible to
see names and dates engraved on the walls with the black smoke of the
torches: "Andromando 1555", "Ludovico 1551". However, the first written
documents about a tour in the cave were left by Earl Girolamo
Gabrielli, who talks about his tour in 1720.
Between 1883 and 1891,
Gian Battista Miliani, a brilliant papermaking manufacturer from
Fabriano, as well as an experienced mountaineer, carried out the first
systematic exploration campaign of Mt. Cucco Cave. The results of his
research activities were published in the Bulletin of Club Alpino Italiano,
n. 58 of 1891 with a detailed report called "La caverna di Monte Cucco"
(The cavern of Mt. Cucco), completed by the first planimetry of that
part of the Cave that today is known as the hiking branch.
From the
end of the 19th century, it will be necessary to wait for decades until
someone comes back to explore the many subterranean areas of Cucco. At
the end of the 1950, some speleologists from Perugia started a series
of research activities which, leaving from Miliani branch, led them in
1969 to reach the maximum depth of 922m and to sketch on the paper,
after covering them meter after meter, over 30 km of galleries (Italian
record for depth and development until the mid 1970s).
Mt. Cucco Cave, with its 30 kilometers and more of galleries and with a
maximum depth of over 900m, is one of the most important hypogeal
systems in Europe and, without a doubt, one of the most famous and
studied in the world. The natural show that could be appreciated only
by expert speleologists opens today for about 800m of subterranean
route for those who want to live a unique sensory experience, a journey
to the bowels of the earth developing among stalactites and
stalagmites, galleries, labyrinths, and underground passages.
Further information: www.grottamontecucco.umbria.it