Underground Geosites and Caving Speleotourism: Some Considerations, From a Case Study in Southern Italy

Abstract

Small-size karst landforms may potentially provide very useful information to fully understand the behavior of karst systems and their dynamics. “Inghiottitoio della Masseria Rotolo,” located in a remarkable karst area of southeastern Italy, was originally a very small swallow hole, able to collect huge amount of water during rainstorms. After works of excavations, and the later caving explorations, it has become the deepest cave in Apulia, reaching the water table at depth of −264 m, with further exploration underwater that brought the depth to 324 m below the ground surface, for a total development of the system greater than 1800 m. This cave is described in the context of the possibility to define underground geosites and to promote speleotourism, with the main goal to spread among the great public information about karst processes and landscape evolution in Apulia. At this aim, the main historical and morphological features of the area where the cave is located (the Canale di Pirro polje) are also described. The karst system of the “Inghiottitoio della Masseria Rotolo” is being studied through a scientific project funded by the regional authority, and a great number of data is being collected, which could be extremely useful to reconstruct the different phases of cave development and to put this cave within the overall context of karst evolution in this sector of central Apulia. Transferring the scientific outcomes to the high number of tourists and visitors would be essential to spreading the main information about karst and to improve the level of knowledge on this remarkable karst system.