Le Marche another Italy

Italy's most spectacular caverns are the Grotte di Frasassi in the region ofLe Marche, about 65 kilometers inland from Ancona. Stunning stalactites and stalagmites fill the rooms that can be visited on a guided tour of the caves along a well-lit pathway. More adventurous explorers can sign up for a Speleo Adventure Tour. See Visiting Frasassi Caves for information about how to tour these fantastic caverns and see a couple of photos.

There are several interesting sights near Frasassi Caves including a museum, 1th century Romanesque abbey, and the picturesque village and castle of Genga, built on a limestone hill.

A selection of some of the most unusual and amazing chapels of Italy, ranging from a bone chapel in Milan, over a cave chapel, to a multicolored vineyard chapel, and more.

1. Cave chapel of Genga (Marche)
In 1971 a group of speleologists from Ancona discovered a complex system of remarkable karst caves in the municipality of Genga. The cave system, known as Frasassi grottos, is the largest in Europe. The grottos owe their name to the Hermitage Sanctuary of Santa Maria infra saxa, dug in the rock at the entrance of the caves, which pronounced by the locals over time became ‘frasassi’.
At about 1.5 km from the entrance of the main Frasassi cave is a cavity called Grotta del Santuario, inside which is the Tempietto del Valadier, a chapel designed by the neoclassicist architect Giuseppe Valadier in 1828 for Pope Leo XII. The Chapel with octagonal plan was constructed with white travertine blocks, which were quarried inside the cave.

2. Ossuary Chapel, Milan (Lombardy)
3. Multi-colored vineyard chapel in La Morra (Piedmont)
4. Cappella Palatina, Palermo (Sicily)
5. The unusual End-of-the-World frescoes of the San Brizio Chapel, Orvieto (Umbria)