Illusionist's Cave

Etna North – Randazzo
Coordinates: 33S 499750E 4181290N (Utm Wgs84) | 37°46'44.0″N 14°59'50.6″E
ELEVATION: 2625 m
Development: Approximately 20 m in total.
Nearest known location: Pious Friars
Exploration: Easily explored with just a helmet and lights. A rope for added safety.
Taken over by Dario Teri – Paolo Teri – Fabrizio La Carrubba – Giuseppe Martinico (on 5.11.2020)
Notified to the relevant municipality on \\
It is a cave with a very large entrance, on a plateau of pahoehoe and slab lava, visible from above, from whose edge one has the impression that it offers access to a very large and deep hypogeum. In reality, going down one realizes that the misleading impression or – better the illusion – one had at the entrance vanishes after a few steps as the large room, with a steep development of the ground, closes after about twenty meters. There would be a hole less than a meter wide that would seem to be a continuation of the cavity, however the walls are not stable and do not instill any confidence for a safe exploration. Even if of modest development, this hypogeum has some interesting naturalistic aspects such as the “lava pendants” on the purple walls and particular vertically placed flow streaks that give a very clear idea of ​​the fluidity of the lava. At the time of the survey, there were no typical men or other signs of human passage, leading us to hypothesize that it could be a very little-known cave, probably only by the shepherds of the area, even if the high altitude makes the passage of flocks less probable and in winter the entrance to the cavity is easily blocked by snow.
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Dario Teri November 5, 2020 Unseen & Little-Known Etna Caves No Responses