Bergeggi Marine Cave
The Marine Cave of Bergeggi is formed by a large main cavity where
nowadays there is the sea, and by some branches situated at higher
levels. Precious prehistorical finds have been found here, among which
ware dating back to the Middle Neolithic Age and human remains of which
it is not possible to establish a date.
During the Neolithic Age
(5000-2000 BC) the sea level was probably lower than the current one,
since the cave was used by primitive men as a shelter. On the contrary,
the presence on the vault and on the walls of the cavern of several
holes produced by ancient lithophagous molluscs witnesses that in other
epochs the sea level was higher than the current shore-line. Such
oscillations of the sea level must be linked to the alternation of
glacial and interglacial periods which took place during the
Quaternary: during the coldest periods, enormous quantities of water
remained still on the continents as ice, causing the reduction of the
sea level; on the contrary, in the hottest periods, the melting of the
glaciers caused the growth of the sea level.
You can enter the Marine Cave of Bergeggi with a small boat, and the
same can be done to enter the "Grotta delle Sirene" (Cave of the
Mermaids) which opens a little more in the South, beyond Punta Predani.
