Grotta Mangiapane - Custonaci

Watch the attached video of a visit to the site!

Inside the cave, 18 km northwest of Trapani on the west coast of Sicily, lies an ancient village that has remained untouched for nearly seventy years. Today, the village functions as an open-air museum , where visitors can step back in time and see what Italian life used to be like.

The cave's history is not entirely set in stone (ba-dum tshh), but carvings found on the wall of the cave suggest that the cave may have been inhabited as far back as the Paleolithic Age, nearly 10,000 years ago .

Recent history is much clearer. The village was named after the Mangiapane family, who lived in the village from the early 19th century until about the 1950s. After it was abandoned in the mid-20th century, a group of passionate local volunteers have kept the place exactly as it was. he was.

A visit to Mangiapane begins long before you reach the village's stone and earth covered houses, shops and places of worship. You are first confronted with the beautiful cave itself, which rises seventy meters into the sky . It is 13 meters wide and 50 meters deep. The first dwelling was at the very back of the cave. As the family expanded, new homes were gradually built from the inside out. In addition to the parents, the four sons and their family also moved into a house inside the cave. They found protection against rain and snow in winter and against the heat in summer. When the cave became too small for the ever-growing family, houses, stables and workshops were also built against the rock wall and further outside.

When you reach the village, you can wander at will in the grounds, which stretch from the area at the base of the cave to seventy meters into it. You will find workshops, houses and the original furniture and tools. Lush fig trees, cacti, citrus trees, palms and karat trees grow between the buildings. Peacocks roam freely. Donkeys, goats and geese make themselves heard in old wooden stables and behind walls that were built with loose stones. It kind of looks like Noah's ark.

The Mangiapane Cave is really not a usual travel destination . There are few signs telling you where it is and no buses to take you to and from your hotel. On any given day, it can look deserted as it actually appears, possibly devoid of tourism officials and certainly devoid of the fast food chains and souvenir shops found in most tourist spots. There's also a good chance you'll have to get by in your broken Italian, as it's unlikely anyone will speak English. But yes, would you like it any other way?

Except in the days around Christmas when the Grotta Mangiapane is transformed into a large presepe vivente , a living nativity scene in the best Sicilian tradition. Dozens of craftsmen then take up residence in the cottages and practice their ancient crafts in front of tens of thousands of visitors who are brought in by shuttle buses to see the magic of Christmas come to life in this enchanting setting.

Access to the site is free, but a voluntary contribution is greatly appreciated by the enthusiastic volunteers who maintain the site. You can also please them - and yourself of course - by having a drink on the terrace of the small bar or by purchasing a modest souvenir as a reminder of this wonderful place.

This is the real thing - a chance to not only see Sicily as it once was, but experience it, without the comforts and expectations of 21st century hospitality. That, along with the sheer splendor of the place, is what makes Mangiapane Cave so special.

Willem Vandenameele