Etna North – Castiglione di Sicilia

Coordinates: 33S 502800E 4185250N (Utm Wgs84) | 37°48'52.9″N 15°01'54.6″E
ELEVATION: 1820m

Development: <15mt

Nearest known location: Monte Nero

Exploration: visitable with only helmet and lights.

Detected by Dario Teri, Paolo Teri, Piera D'arrigo (on 3.11.2018)

Notified to the relevant municipality on \\

This modest-sized cave would be, according to some, the real Monte Nero cave, or at least that's how the locals defined it in the past. In reality, it should be specified that the Monte Nero cave is currently marked on the maps in use further upstream, about 300 meters as the crow flies and 70 meters of altitude difference. Furthermore, despite being on the same eruptive fracture, they are caves without a connection and therefore totally divided. In this case, the surveyors wanted to emphasize, with the attribution of the identifying name in the census in question, the presence of a singular characteristic of this cavity. The visitor will be surprised to see a "scifu" on the floor of the cave. U Scifu in Sicilian dialect is the trough, a rectangular container used as a manger or watering hole. Well, the extraordinary peculiarity of this cavity is that inside it some shepherd created this object with a tree trunk inserted into the ground to allow the flocks to drink and it is still perfectly preserved today. The entrance to the cave is located inside a spectacular lava flow channel that we recommend following on one of the edges, going up towards Monte Nero, paying attention to the presence of numerous wells along the channel. In winter the cave is often blocked by snow.