Points of Interest
History, Landscape, and Man
On the summit of Mt. San Calogero, a plateau opens to the east with a thick pinewood; in the west, there is the homonymous Sanctuary, inside which a statue of the Saint by Giacomo Gagini is preserved. If you go along a short downhill road, you will get to the so-called vaporous stoves, used also in ancient times like a sort of sauna. During the speleological expeditions, the abyss from which the "vapors" come out has given the opportunity to find prehistoric pithoi dating back to the Bronze Age. Afterwards, further research activities have brought to light, above all in Antro del Fico, strata of materials dating back to Prehistory (from the middle Neolithic to the Copper Age) witnessing the presence of the inhabitants in the caves. It was no longer possible to live in the caves in subsequent periods, probably because in the year 2000 BC telluric events led to secondary volcanic phenomena causing the raising of the temperature of the caves and giving origin to sulfurous fumes.
Further information (Italian text)
