Casa Rupestre Zovencedo

Casa Rupestre Cengia dei Meoni - Museo della Pietra di Vicenza

Useful Information

Location:	Cava de Cice, Via Pitton 1, 36020 Zovencedo VI. From Viale Sant' Agostino south, turn left on SP12, then right towards Zovencedo. Drive through the village on SP108, after 600 m a turnoff is signed with brown signs and an information table. Parking is 50 m down the single lane gravel road. (45.4281193, 11.4968527)
Open:	APR to OCT Sun 16. [2023]
Fee:	Adults EUR 5, Children (6-12) EUR 3, Children (0-5) free, Disabled EUR 3. Groups (15+): Adults EUR 3. [2023]
Classification:	Cave House Underground Museum Room and Pillar Mining
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:
Guided tours:	D=1 h.
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	yes
Bibliography:
Address:	Museo della Pietra di Vicenza, Cava de Cice, Via Pitton 1, 36020 Zovencedo VI, Tel: +39-333-576-4122. 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

11-AUG-1959	the cave houses are abandoned.
2013	restoration of the cave house.

Description

This site actually has two underground sites, and as both are guided by the non-profit Coop Scatola Cultura on the same tour, we have one page for both. The name we use, Casa Rupestre Zovencedo, is not the official name, it is an abbreviation, and we use the name of the village to make clear where it is. The problem is that both museums have their own name and both are quite lengthy, so they are not suitable for listing them. And it's hard to remember them, especially if you do not speak Italian.

The first site which is reached from the road is the Museo della Pietra di Vicenza (Vicenza Stone Museum). This is a former limestone quarry named Cava de Cice which was transformed into an underground museum. It exhibits the tools and machinery which was used for the mining, and examples for the use of the rock. There are saws, which were used to cut the rock, and carbide lamps which illuminated the workplace. There are also some fossils which were found during the quarrying.

The second site is the Casa Rupestre (Rock House). It is also known as Casa Rupestre Cengia dei Meoni and Casa rupestre "La Sengia". That's even for the locals too complicated, and so they abbreviate is as Abitatione Rupestre (Rock Dwellings) or Localita Sengia. This is a number of smaller caves, also abandoned quarries obviously, which were then used to build houses. The entrance was closed by a wall with a door and windows. A wooden floor created two different levels, the ceiling of the upper floor shows the marks of the rock mining.

Sengia (or Cengia) is the name of this small hamlet, which was obviously the home of the quarry workers. Meoni is the last name of the last family who lived in this house. Originally it had a kitchen, a corridor to the stable, the cellar and the barn. Quite practical: in a cave house the cellar is at the same level. A staircase led to the two bedrooms upstairs. Arduino and Antonia Meoni lived there with their 11 children. The house was renovated in 1951 when their daughter Adelaide went to live there with her family after the death of her parents. Electricity was installed, the rock walls covered in wood. However, the renovation was not very durable, the walls were cracking, and it was raining inside. On 11-AUG-1959 lightning caused a fire and destroyed the house, and forced the family to abandon their home. Afterwards the building was in a state of decay.

The cave house was restored by the Municipality of Zovencedo, after they had purchased it. Inside it was completely restored in the way it was used during the early 20th century, with furniture, kitchen, and old clothes. The kitchen has an open fire, which looks more like 19th century.

The Coop Scatola Cultura offers one guided tour between April and October every Sunday at 16:00. It takes an hour and explains the geology, the rock quarries, and the cave house. They also offer tours for groups and especially for school classes.

When you are already there, we recommend the short walk to the Fontana della Villa. It has stone wash houses which have been restored. Also, the Fontana dell'Albiolo. Both can be seen on a 200 m hike. The number of springs in the area is overwhelming, the limestone is karstified, so they are many karst springs.

The village Zovencedo is located in the hills south of the city of Vicenza. It has dozens of former quarries, where the precious Pietra Bianca di Vicenza (White Rock of Vicenza) is quarried. The stones were needed to build, among other buildings, the famous villas of Andrea Palladio. As common in underground quarries, the Room and Pillar method was used to quarry the rock, the result was a huge chamber with countless pillars supporting the roof. In this case the rock was quite stable, after all, it was used for building houses, so the pillars with a size of about 2 by 2 m stand about 6 to 8 m apart. If the pillars are bigger and the distance smaller, such a quarry is more like passages crossing each other. But this one is more like a huge chamber, a cathedral built of the famous white Vicenza stone.