Grotta del Genovese

Useful Information

Location:	Via Calvario 31, Favignana 91023. West coast of Isola di Levanzo, Isole Egadi. From Levanzo follow road to the north to the end of the road at Pizzo del Monaco, follow trail down to the cave. Boat ride to the jetty below the cave, hike uphill. Hike from Levanzo along the coast west to the Grotta del Buco, then north above the cliff, to the end of the road, follow trail down to the cave. (38.0018776, 12.3218930)
Open:	All year daily 9-13:30. Online reservation mandatory 48 h in advance. [2025]
Fee:	Adults EUR 42, Children )6-11) EUR 30, Children (0-5) free. Cave only: Adults EUR 20, Children )6-11) EUR 15, Children (0-5) free. Groups (16+): 10 % discount. [2025]
Classification:	Karst Cave. Painted Cave Triassic limestones
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:	L=35 m.
Guided tours:	D=1.5 h.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:	Salvatore Spoto (2002): Sicilia antica: usi, costumi e personaggi dalla preistoria alla società greca, nell'isola culla della civiltà europea Newton & Compton, 2002. ISBN 88-8289-750-8 and 978-88-8289-750-5, OCLC 50652366. Sebastiano Tusa, Gianpiero Di Maida, Andreas Pastoors, Henny Piezonka, Gerd-Christian Weniger, Thomas Terberger (2013): The Grotta di Cala dei Genovesi – New studies on the Ice Age cave art on Sicily Praehistorische Zeitschrift 2013; 88(1–2): 1–22, De Gruyter. academia.edu researchgate DOI Francesco Torre (2024): Arte rupestre nelle grotte trapanesi. La grotta del Genovese a Levanzo Ediz. illustrata Taschenbuch – Illustriert, 23. März 2024
Address:	Grotta del Genovese, Favignana, Isola di Levanzo, Tel: +39-0923-921647, Tel: +39-331-13-30-259, Tel: +39-339-74-18-800 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

1949	paintings discovered by the painter Francesca Minellono who was on holiday on the island.

Description

The Grotta del Genovese (Genovese Cave) is located on the small island Isola di Levanzo, off the Sicilian west coast. It is about 10 km west of Trapani and 20 km north of Marsala, with ferries from both cities. The cave is located in the northwestern corner of the island, about 4 km from the harbour. The western coast is a steep slope of debris up to a cliff face. The cave is located at the foot of this cliff. There is a huge shelter, a sort of overhanging cliff with a huge chamber named antegrotta. At the far end is a small cave passage, the paintings and engravings are in this part of the cave which is called retrogrotta.

The cave is famous for its paleolithic art, and contains paintings which were dated to be between 11,000 and 12,000 years old. There are two different types of paintings. First there are naturalistic pictures of animals and three human figures which are comparable to the art of French and Cantabrian caves. Then there are more schematic paintings and symbols which resemble the art of the Spanish Levante. The paintings were made with mostly black colour. Unlike French and Spanish caves there are almost no brown or red colours. The upper scenes show daily life, especially hunting, the lower scenes show animals, with some extraordinary pictures of dancing men. Really special is the scene with a tuna fish, which proves that man is fishing for tuna here for at least 10,000 years. There are also several engravings.

Although very remote on a very small island, this is one of the most important Italian painted caves and thus well worth a visit. At the time when the paleolithic engravings were made, the island was not that remote, as the connection to Sicily, and by the way the connection from Sicily to Italy, was still dry at that time. The sea level was much lower at the end of the Ice Age, as a huge amount of seawater was frozen in large glaciers on the poles and the mountain ridges. But 12,000 BP the ice age ended, the glaciers were melting and the sea level rising. At some point the inhabitants of the island left it, as they realized they would be trapped on the island if they stayed. The second period, the neolithic paintings were created approximately 6,000 to 7,000 BP. At this time this was an island, but obviously humans had learned to reach the island by boat.

The cave was used for a lime kiln in late Medieval times, but it seems the people did not enter the cave behind, because there were no remains. Actually access was difficult, it was necessary to crawl for some meter to reach the cave behind. So this part of the cave was forgotten and finally rediscovered by Francesca Minellono, a Florentine painter who was spending a short holiday on the island in 1949. She was curious and crawled in, and as a painter she was able to interpret the strange drawings. She knew, those were not recent graffities, and she informed Prof. Paolo Graziosi of the Institute of Human Paleo-ethnology at the University of Florence, as well as the superintendent for antiquities of Western Sicily Jole Bovio Marconi. Soon the cave was explored and excavated by the archaeologists. And the other caves on the island were also explored, but this one is the most spectacular.

This is an island, you arrive by ship, normally without car. The best option is the hydrofoil, check the Liberty Lines for the timetable. To protect the cave it is closed and gated, the only way to see it is with a guided tour, which includes transportation to the cave. There are tours with a 4WD to the end of the road and then a hike down to the cave, and tours by boat and then a hike up to the cave. Which one it is depends on the weather conditions. It’s also possible to book only the cave tour, which is much cheaper, if you intend to hike the 4 km to the cave and back. Make sure your on time at the cave, have sun protection, hiking shoes, and enough water. There is an iron bar fence in front of the entrance, so you can only see the cave from outside. But there are several educational signs on the fence which explain the whereabouts of the cave in different languages. To visit the cave online booking on the website at least 48 hours in advance is mandatory. This is not really a drawback, as the same applies to the ferry. Actually its more important to book seats on the hydrofoil, in the summer months last-minute availability is quite rare.