"Grotta Zinzulusa" Zinzulusa caves

Today visit " Grotte Zinzulusa"  (in dialect of Salento) Zinzulusa Caves.

The Zinzulusa is a coastal natural cave, which is located along the coast of Salento between Castro and Santa Cesarea Terme. The name of the cave derives from the dialect "Zinzuli" , rags, and is due to the karst formations, 

especially stalactites hanging from the ceiling as if they were hanging rags. 

The formation of the cave , which took place for marine erosion , is led back to the period of the Pliocene.

The cave, ideally divided into three areas  (entrance, crypt and bottom), is invaded by both marine and sweet water springs, crystal clear and cold. 

It is particularly interesting from the animal point of view the presence of sponges, generally not suitable for isolated environments organisms; in general the cave is host to an unusual biological diversity, with also endemic species of the cave.

It was Bishop of Castro , Antonio Francesco del Duca , in 1793 , to discover it. 

However, the first studies began only 150 years later, in 1950, and the cave was opened to the public in 1957.

The cave is divided into three parts:

• (Input) - it is characterized by the great variety and number of stalactites and stalagmites that have a striking resemblance to objects. In this area, through a long corridor called Wonderland is a small lake, crystal clear sweet water mixed with marine infiltration, called Pitfall.

• (Crypt) - the cave continues with a large cavity called crypt or the cathedral, characterized by tall smooth walls up to 25 meters; this part of the cave seems to go back to the Cretaceous. The cave was inhabited by a large number of bats, which had covered with their droppings, for 5, 7 meters. Guano, solid and onwhich it was possible to walk, was lifted in the 1940s by workers who also created the interior walkways, used today for tourist visits. They remain in the cave a few dozen bats, which leave the night.

• (Bottom) - it is the terminal part of the cave, which reaches up to 160 meters beyond the entrance, which is also housed in Cretaceous rocks, and houses the small closed basin of Cocytus. The waters are characterized by a stratification: in the lower part are warm and brackish while on the surface are sweet and cold.

The cave has more basins entirely submerged, explored up to 250 meters from the entrance.

Curiosity:

In 1968 precisely in this cave were shot by Carmelo Bene some sequences of the film Our Lady of the Turks. 

And now Enjoy watching the video of cave Zinzulusa. I can tell everybody it's phenomenal and if you find yourself in these parts you should go to visit the cave. 

THE JOURNEY CONTINUES........

New Recept culinary food

Spaghetti with Sea Urchins

Ingredients for 4 people):

30 live sea urchins, 400 gr Spaghetti, garlic, extra virgin olive oil, chopped parsley, pepper

Open curly and collect carefully, using a teaspoon, pulp and lay it aside in a bowl.

In a skillet heat the oil where brown the garlic and chili pepper, then add the cherry tomatoes cut in half, once these have withered mix the pulp of sea urchins and cook on high heat for a few minutes . Meanwhile boil the spaghetti, after draining the tooth stir -fry with curly, adding the parsley.

Turning for a moment to add flavor and extinguish the fire. Again add oil and salt if needed and still run for another few seconds.

Serve hot, adding, if desired, ground black pepper.

Culinary Food typical from Salento....

In this article I want to talk of the culinary food of Salento, which it is not only Pizza and Pasta.

The majority of Salento, are fishermen and their main job, many of them their daily lunch the fish.

In According to statistics provided by ISTAT (Italian National Statistics Instiute) that in Italy the domestic production of sea and lagoon fishing was 3 million and 326 thousand tons, the increased production is obviously the South with a million and 740 thousand tons.
Italian families have spend in year 2005 a monthly average of almost 20 Euro in the Centre-North and over 40 Euro in the South. Compared with the expensive of the meat family, it is noted as.

In the most Areas they are fishing swordfish, sea bream, black mussels, shrimps, prawns, octupus and sepie. A very delicious  shape and very appreciated from the Salento population the Sea urchin (called Echinodea Sea_urchin) are edible and hightly sought after and prized for it's flavor.

This is some of the many fish that is caught fresh every day  in Salento. Then the fish also paired with pasta and some glass of wine.

The Salento in dialect Salentu are of excellent vine producers including the most famous the "Negroamaro"or Negro Amaro and the "primitivo di Manduria".

In the next post i tell more in depth of Salento Wine and his history.

I'd like to share this article with many of you, those who had the pleasure to visit the Salento, invited to tell his experience with a comment.

Salento from Coast to coast...the trip it begins

                                           Visit Salento 

Here we are at Santa Maria al Bagno fraction that belongs to Nardo. Santa Maria al Bagno is about 7 km from Nardo. Santa Maria is a small fishing village, located on the shores of the Gulf of Taranto, on the west coast of the Ionian Sea between Gallipoli and Porto Cesareo. 

Particularly important is the next door regional wildlife reserve of "Portoselvaggio", a famous natural park with 400 hectares of pinewood forest and seven kilometres of high quality, unpolluted coast. Portoselvaggio is one of the main green lungs of the region of Apulia.

Museum

Santa Maria al Bagno was the site of a post World War II displaced person camp. 

A new museum opened in the village dedicated to thousands of concentration camp survivors who travelled through Italy on their way to Israel after World War II. 

The Museum of Memory and Welcome has been created in Santa Maria through which some 150,000 Jews passed between 1943 and 1947. The museum houses all the material relating to the time from the town council archives, including witness reports, photographs and videos, as well as a multimedia room and a library.

         the Coast today Saturday at 19 clock... Wonderful Sunset

                                      live video shot today...

                                  Comments are Welcome :)

Welcome

Welcome On Salento  is a Channel for tourist information, from here starts your trip to Salento....
You know all the beauty and culture of Salento, the traditions and the typical local culinary art and you know the old baroque building.
Knowing a piece of the world, a part of Europe a part of Italy ever seen to date.
Let's discover together the SALENTO....the journey begins

For any question or Information contact on this E-mail
welcomeonsalento@gmail.com

Our team speak German, English and italian Language