Grotta Sant'Angelo

The Cave of Sant’Angelo counts among one of the most interesting rupestrian cavities of the Italian prehistory. Not far from the splendid fortress-town of Civitella del Tronto, this cave has represented an important place of cult for many centuries and is today still a place of a pilgrimage in honour of San Michele Arcangelo.

The archaeological excavations which were conducted as from the 60's have allowed to dig up testimonies dating from the Neolithic (5^th millennium B.C.) to Iron Age (1^st millennium B.C.) while rests of the mediaeval period belonged to the a hermitage settled there around the 13^th century.

An approximately 3 metres high stratigraphical wall conserves the most ancient history of the Italic people illustrated by materials of extraorinary value: arrow heads, scrapers and thin plates made of Sus bones, small pierced bone cylinders, the most ancient engraved or painted ceramics of Italy with exemplars of the famous production of Catignano and Ripoli.

The numerous human bone rests belonging mainly to young individuals, seem to back up the theory according to which fertility rites were celebrated in the cave.

A Museum was set inside the cave on initiative of the Parco Nazionale del Gran Sasso-Monti della Laga which illustrates the history of the site through panels and pictures.

In addition to this a proto-historic hut has been reconstructed inside the nearby Centro Visite di Ripe di Civitella for didactic educational purposes.