We didn’t feel like staying at home, despite the bad weather. So we decided to venture out and explore a magical place. A few clicks in Internet and we soon chose our destination: Duino Castle and then a cave. Yes, because we had specialised in karst caves. In the beginning the Giant Cave seemed ideal for our outing, then our attention focused on the Grotta Torri di Slivia.

The Grotta Torri di Slivia is smaller than the more famous, nearby, Giant, but it has the typical allure of mysterious underground places and indeed it lived up to our expectations. Kitted out in comfortable shoes, fleece tops and caving helmets with headlamps, we left the agritourism on the agribus, a cart converted into visitor transport and towed by a tractor. The children were started to get excited, they’d become mini caving experts since this was the fourth cave we’d visited in a week.

You go down a few steps to the entrance, which seemed little more than a gated hole among the rocks. The smell of the earth, of grass and fallen leaves filled our nostrils and awoke our senses to the discovery we were about to make.

Upon entering the cave, the natural spectacle captured our gaze. There were draperies, stalactites, stalagmites and towers. The different kinds of concretions prompted questions which were immediately answered by our friendly, expert guide.

It was really hard to leave once our visit was over. The children asked dozens of questions as a way of prolonging our stay, they imagined what the different concretions looked like and tried to spot the bat colonies that live in the cave.