Location: | Calcata. North of Rome. A1 Firenze Roma, exit Magliano Sabina, SS3 south, turn right onto SP78, at Faleria turn right onto SP79 to Calcata. Calcata is located behind Calcata Nuova. |
Open: |
Restaurant: all year Wed-Sun, Hol 13-01. The Cave: all year Fri 19-01, Sat, Sun 13-01. [2007] |
Fee: | Yearly member fee EUR 3. [2007] |
Classification: | Cave House |
Light: | Incandescent |
Dimension: | |
Guided tours: | |
Photography: | |
Accessibility: | |
Bibliography: | |
Address: | La Grotta Dei Germogli, Rupe S. Giovanni, 01030 Calcata vecchia (VT), Tel: +39-761-588003, Tel: 328-1680104, Tel: 333-8383111. 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. |
The Grotta dei Germogli (Sprout Cave) is the headquarters of the cultural association VivereVivi (LivingAlive), as they say themselfes. It is a sort of cafe and restaurant, with reasonable prices and an alternative touch. Members have free access, and the member fee is only EUR 3. There are art events, exhibitions, live music and more.
So why is a restaurant listed on showcaves.com? Obviously because it is underground. The name grotta is not just a name, the restaurant is really inside a cave. It was probably dug out of the soft volcanic ash in pre Roman times, used during the Middle Ages and abandoned in the 1930s when the town was relocated.
The new owner renovated the cave and decorated it with colourfull mosaics. His name is Monty Ray Garrison, called Pancho, and he is president of the association, and coiner of the word mosai-eco. He wants to express that the mosaics were created with discarded material. The mosaics cover floors and walls to an extend, that it could also be called a single big mosaic, a Mosaic Grotta.