The San Giorgio Lucano Anthropic Cave Complex (Basilicata, Southern Italy): a Geosite to Protect and Enhance

Abstract

San Giorgio Lucano is small village located at the top of a sandy ridge overlooking the Sarmento river valley in the Pollino National Park area. Here, a complex made up of more than 1200 artificial cavities, excavated by Basilian monks fleeing from the Byzantine Empire, developed between the VIII and XI centuries representing the largest settlement of rural hypogea in southern Italy. Starting from the XV century, the hypogea were essentially used for agro-pastoral purposes; however, they assumed over time considerable historical-archeological importance representing a precious testimony of the deep-rooted relationship between the man and his territory. During the last decades, the abandonment of rural areas characterizing the small villages of the southern Apennines leads the cave complex to a growing state of degradation that resulted in a series of cave collapses that jeopardize the safety of the slope where they reside. The anthropic cave complex extends between the localities of Timpa Selvavecchia and Le Timpe, at different topographic levels, along a steeply dipping slope. The caves generally consist of one or more rooms, carved in the sandstones, showing a rectangular base and an arched vault, and an external masonry facade. The remarkable historical and geological features observable at San Giorgio Lucano make this locality a potential, extremely interesting, geosite. Therefore, in order to promote it, a geological, structural, and geomorphological study, aiming to put in safety the study slope, has been undertaken. In this paper, we introduce the San Giorgio Lucano cave complex geosite providing some suggestions for its geoconservation.