If throughout the world the name of Capri is linked to the Blue Grotto, one of the unmissable stops for every visitor who lands there, the island, due to its geological characteristics, is full of caves, both along the coastal perimeter and in the interior.
An ideal tour of the Blue Island cannot ignore these other wonders of nature.
The Green Grotto
You can also get there with a nice swim, to indulge in the thrill of being literally enveloped in the iridescent splendor of the sea water to which the sun gives ever-changing reflections, depending on the time of day and the seasons. With a prevalence of emerald color which justifies the name by which it is best known: Grotta Verde. Although in the 16th century, when it was discovered, it was also called Grotta dei Turchi. The carbonate rocks, or dolomites, which characterize it inside are the oldest on the island. Another peculiarity are the two openings, because in addition to the larger one which is accessed by sea, there is another one four meters below the sea surface.
The Red Grotto
It is defined by the red marine creatures that populate the rocks inside, giving them, in the parts that emerge from the water, the particular color that made it famous, contributing to its remarkable charm. A cave definitely worth visiting, the Rossa also known as Grotta Corallo, on the southeast side of the island, not far from the famous Faraglioni, symbol of Capri in the world.
The White Cave
Towards Punta Massullo, the opening is at sea level, indicated by the very light, almost white, limestone rocks from which it has borrowed its name. The White Grotto is large and extends into the side of the island for about thirty metres. Inside, there are two small lakes connected by a channel dug by man, perhaps in Roman times, to allow boats to be brought to shelter. Later, in the centuries dominated by terror due to the continuous Saracen raids, it also became a safe haven for the islanders. Perhaps a sort of staircase carved into the rock dates back to that time, from which the more daring dare to dive. The dripping of fresh water has shaped a magnificent alternation of stalactites and stalagmites over time. Among these, one in particular, visible from the entrance, has a shape that recalls the Madonna.
The Marvelous Grotto
Stalactites and stalagmites with a great scenographic impact also triumph in another cave, which opens higher than sea level and above the White Cave. A system of coastal cavities that fascinated the first foreigners who visited them. It was given the name of Grotta Meravigliosa, without any connection with the local names, by a writer of horror novels, the German Heinz Ewers, who stayed in Capri several times between 1898 and the early years of the twentieth century, also meeting Oscar Wilde, and who did not fail to tell the island in his own way in the Teutonic magazines and also that intriguing ravine in which he had been accompanied. To imagine the use of the cave at the beginning of the twentieth century was then the Neapolitan engineer and architect Emilio Mayer, designer of the famous Via Krupp, who designed the small pier and the staircase in the rock to climb there. All works created in 1927.
The Bue Marino Grotto
They bellow like oxen, the waves breaking against the rock when the wind blows from the north. It is this loud, dull sound of the surf that has earned the Capri cave its very special name. According to the legend widespread among fishermen, a colony of seals was once settled inside the cave.
The Arsenale Grotto
It is said that it belonged and was frequented by the emperor Tiberius. The mosaics and finds testify that in Roman times it had housed a nymphaeum and that sacred ceremonies were held there. In the Middle Ages, on the other hand, it was used both as a deposit by fishermen and as a refuge for the population during Saracen raids.
The Affummata Grotto
Quite large with its six meters in height and five in length, the fishermen had placed the boilers used for the nets there. For that extended use, the interior walls remained smoked.
The Cave of the Saints
Among the Capri caves, this one stands out for the particular shape of the rocks, recognized as similar to statues of saints.
The Cave of Matermania
It was once a tradition that the bride and groom visited the cave as a propitiatory rite for marriage. A custom linked to ancestral cults, testified by the unequivocal finds attributable to a sacred place dedicated to the cult of the goddess Cybele (an altar) and to the god Mithras (a bas-relief). The name Matermania of the cave originated from that Roman-era nymphaeum which can be reached by land, following a path of great beauty along the road to Tragara up to the belvedere and then continuing to Pizzolungo.
The Cave of the Ferns
Among the many caves where the sea meets the rock, the most important for the history of Capri is, instead, an earth cave, which opens at a height of two hundred meters, on the southern side of the island: the Grotta delle Felci or Grotta del Capelvenere, because that is the species that grows all around, in a scenario of great naturalistic value. The prehistoric inhabitants of the area referred to that cave, approximately 370 square meters wide, since the Neolithic, systematically frequenting it without interruption until the Iron Age. Later, it was used again in the 16th century by monks of the Certosa, as a sheepfold for goats, only to be forgotten again. Until the rediscovery at the end of the 19th century by Ignazio Cerio, thanks to which the cave hidden by vegetation was to prove decisive for the reconstruction of human history in Capri. Without neglecting the important confirmation of the identification of the period, in the upper Pleistocene, in which that strip of land was already configured as an island, now separated from the continent. The cave had been a sanctuary since the beginning of its attendance, witness to rites with generous offerings to the gods. Numerous material testimonies prove this. The excavation started by Cerio in 1885 and then continued a century ago by Ugo Rellini and during the Second World War by Alberto Carlo Blanck, brought to light vases painted with engravings, metal artifacts, obsidian blades and votive objects, as well as bones both human and animal. Part of those finds are exhibited at the Ignazio Cerio Centre in Capri, but also at the Mann and at the Museum of Anthropology of the University of Naples. The Grotta delle Felci can only be reached on foot, starting from Marina Piccola and continuing along via Grotta delle Felci, which, having become a narrow path, enters the greenery up to the so-called Grotta dell'Arco, from which you can reach the prehistoric site.
