Emerald Cave in Amalfi

The bay of Conca dei Marini is a very characteristic area because it hosts a series of white houses and a very particular and suggestive port. If once the area was the economic hub, today the place attracts many tourists and catkins of the sea. In this area, for example, the famous Emerald Grotto is located, which every year is besieged by many tourists. There are several ancient texts that hypothesized the presence of a cave with these characteristics in the area, but no more precise information circulated in the early twentieth century, and each rumor assumed the connotations of rumor or legend. The existence of the cave was unknown until 1932 when a fisherman accidentally discovered its existence. The life of the fisherman, called Luigi Buonocore, changed completely, to the point that from the moment of his discovery until his death, the man was labeled as the "discoverer of the cave". The merit of this fisherman is truly enormous since he brought everyone to the attention of wonderful space for tourism, but also for scientific purposes. The cave is in fact a magical kingdom, in which light takes on wonderful and fairytale connotations. When the sea is calm and the sun is high, the cave appears truly magical thanks to the reflections that the light is capable of generating.

In addition to the crystal-clear water, one cannot fail to be struck by the walls of the cave. In fact, the rock has been "worked" by time, by the sea, by the air and the result is a kind of low-reliefs, but also stalagmites and stalactites that cannot help but amaze. The formation of the cave suggests that in the past the cave was located in a dry area, and therefore it is possible that the water level in this area over time has been strongly influenced by the tides. Today it is possible to describe the cave as a dome about 30 meters wide, 60 meters long, and 24 meters high. The attention around this cave is high, to the point that in 1956 an underwater nativity scene was set up inside the cave, and also in the following years, not infrequently a group of divers places votive symbols inside the cave itself. One last curiosity. If you are wondering why the cave has this name, know that it derives from the emerald color that the water reflects throughout the area, also thanks to an underwater cleft from which sunlight escapes.