Grotte delle Meraviglie

Grotta della Marta - Cave of Wonders

Useful Information

Location:	Near Zogno. 11 km N of Bergamo, Valle Brembana. From the road Bergamo-San Pellegrino, at the city limits turn left onto the road to Brembilla.
Open:	MAY to SEP Sun 14:30-17. Only on certain Sundays, generally second and fourth Sunday of the Month. Please call or see website. [2004]
Fee:
Classification:	Karst Cave
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	L=211 m, VR=105 m.
Guided tours:	L=156 m, VR=15 m, D=20 min.
Photography:
Accessibility:	No wheelchairs or strollers
Bibliography:
Address:	Gruppo Speleologico Grotte delle Meraviglie di Zogno, Tel: +39-366-4541598 (evening hours). E-mail:
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1932	discovered.
1939	opened to the public.
1969	Ermenegildo Zanchi died and the cave was closed.
1983	cave reopened on an initiative of the speleo club Gruppo delle Nottole, only for didactic cave tours.
1990	cave closed.
2003	reopened to the public by the Comune di Zogno.

Description

Grotte delle Meraviglie is located above the highway through the Valle Brembana. The huge entrance portal is easy to see. It is located in grey limestone of the Lower Raetium, locally called calcare di zu'. This typical limestone of the Southern Limestone Alps was uplifted by the orogeny of the alps. It is rich in fossilized corals.

The cave was named Cave of Wonders because of its wealth of beautiful speleothems. It was opened to the public in 1939 by the local cave club Gruppo Grotte di San Pellegrino Terme. Ermenegildo Zanchi from this club was convinced of this and invested a lot of money and tenacity into the development. He managed the cave for decades and when he died in 1969 it was closed.

For a long time the cave was administered and guided by the Gruppo delle Nottole, who opened it in the 80s for special tours. The tours had to be organized and were offered only for groups, but they were very educative. Since 2003 the cave is administered by the Comune di Zogno (municipality of Zogno), which also renovated the installations. It was reopened in 2004 as a show cave.

The cave is entered through an artificial tunnel of 90 m length. This was necessary, as the natural entrance is a 60 m deep pothole. The largest hall is 25x15 m and up to 4 m high.