Zinzulusa Cave

The cave Zinzulusa is one of the most interesting events of the karst phenomenon in Salento. It opens onto the sea on the coast between Santa Cesarea Terme and Castro Marina, on a winding coastal road, with stunning scenery.
The name Zinzulusa derives from the presence, on the inside, of numerous stalactites and stalagmites that in the local dialect are called "Zinzuli" or rags, as if to remind those particular clothes. In addition, the farmers of Otranto have always identified the cave with the bats that numerous dwell here and that, at certain times of the day, pour outside.

One of the earliest historical references to the cave Zinzulusa is found in a letter written by the Bishop of Castro, Monsignor Del Duca, who in 1793 provides Ferdinand IV with a detailed description of the karst cavity. Furthermore, the prelate, as far as the origin of the cave Zinzulusa is concerned, he tried his hand in a bold reconstruction recognizing in the bizarre sculptures, the columns of a temple dedicated to Minerva, erected as a tribute to the support given to Hercules in the fight against the Giants.
Subsequently, other local scholars devoted their time in the discovery and study of the cave Zinzulusa. Among them we remember Brocchi, Botti and finally one of the most distinguished scholars on this topic, De Giorgi.

Only in the twentieth century, a real scientific study on the cave is carried out, particularly since 1922 when, an intense work of collecting and cataloging of plant and animal species present in the deeper parts of the cave began. Special interest was immediately aroused by the presence of species of crustaceans of very ancient origin, existing only in this cavity.
The interest aroused by Zinzulusa is not limited to the biological aspect but also for the discovery of the remains of numerous artifacts that seem to date back to the Neolithic and Paleolithic reaching back the Roman times.
The cave Zinzulusa, which, as mentioned before, is karst, originated during the Pliocene as a result of erosion by water on the local limestone subsoil.

The cave Zinzulusa is divided into three parts:
  1. The first part of the entrance, is characterized by great variety and quantity of stalactites and stalagmites. In this area you can find the presence of a zone of stagnant, sweetish and crystal clear water.
  2. The cave continues with a large cavity called "Il duomo" (The Cathedral)" whose erosive phenomenon that originated it seems to date back to the "Cretaceous"period. The phenomenon of stalagmitism begins to fade.
  3. We come to the final part of the cave now where there are water called "Cocytus" which is characterized by the stratification of the water, brackish and warm the lower ones, sweet and cold the higher ones.

In more recent periods new and more extensive studies have been carried out  made by several Italian universities as a result of which a new submerged path has been discovered as well as, new and unknown species of aquatic fauna including the Salentinella gracillima, the mysid Stygiomysis and the spugna hydruntina.
The species referred so far are characterized by their ancient origin and for the distinction of being only present in these cavities with few rivals in the Mediterranean.

The most interesting part of the marine fauna present in the cave are certainly those species that some studies have traced back to an ancient fauna survived to the climate changes subsequent to the Pliocene.
But even the terrestrial fauna presents many points of interest represented by troglobitic and troglofie.
The cave Zinzulusa also presents numerous fossil remains of birds, cats, deer, elephants, bears, hippos, rhinos as to witness the extraordinary richness and variety of species in the old Salento characterized among other things by a climate very different from today's.

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