Gole di Fara San Martino and Grotta del Cavallone: the eastern face of the Majella

There are places in the Majella that hit you like a sudden gust of cold wind and never let you go. The Gole di Fara San Martino are one of them. A deep canyon carved by the Verde torrent into the heart of the eastern Majella, with limestone walls rising up to 300 meters and an entrance just two meters wide — the "rocky cleft" that, legend has it, San Martino forced open with his bare arms so shepherds could reach the high pastures. A few kilometers to the south, above Lama dei Peligni and Taranta Peligna, the Grotta del Cavallone opens its horse-eye-shaped entrance at 1,475 meters above sea level — one of the highest show caves in Europe, reachable only by a 1970s chairlift suspended over the Vallone di Taranta. Together they represent the two most spectacular geosites on the eastern flank of the Majella, both part of the UNESCO Global Geopark recognized in April 2021.

In this guide we take you through both: how to get there, what to expect on the trails, the hidden abbeys, the remarkable story of D'Annunzio's Figlia di Iorio that gave the cave its most poetic nickname, visiting times, costs, and why — if you have a full day — it's absolutely worth combining them into a single unforgettable itinerary.

The Gole di Fara San Martino: the eastern gateway to the Majella

Fara San Martino is a small borgo of just over a thousand inhabitants in the province of Chieti, known worldwide above all for one reason: it's home to three of Italy's most important pasta producers, De Cecco, Delverde, and Cocco, which have made the town the "world capital of pasta." The pure, mineral-rich waters of the Sorgenti del Verde are the historic reason for this concentration. But if you arrive here for the first time, you'll soon discover that pasta isn't the only wonder Fara has to offer: behind the town opens one of the most spectacular canyons in the Apennines, recognized as a geologically significant site of international value in the UNESCO Majella Geopark dossier.

Getting to the Gorge

From Pescara: 1 hour by car via the SS81 toward Lanciano, then the SP25 to Fara San Martino. From Rome: 2h30 via the A24-A25 to Pratola Peligna, then the SS84 through Palena to Fara San Martino. From the Adriatic coast: from the A14 Val di Sangro exit, 30 minutes following signs for Lanciano and then Fara San Martino. There's no direct train connection: the nearest station is Lanciano, from which you can take a bus or taxi (about 30 km).

Once in the village, signs for the Gole are clear. The trailhead is at the Sorgenti del Fiume Verde, where you'll find a large paid parking area (hourly rate around €1, or €4 for the full day for cars, €10 for campervans). The parking area spans several levels: even at the height of summer you'll find a spot, but in July and August it's worth arriving before 9 a.m. to avoid queues. From the parking lot, a short 10-minute walk along a dirt track brings you to the entrance of the Gole.

The base trail: for the whole family

The base route through the gorge and up to the ruins of the Abbazia di San Martino in Valle is easy, suitable for everyone, including families with young children. About 3 km round trip, with a modest elevation gain of 100–150 meters, walkable in 2 hours including stops. Park classification: T-Tourist, the easiest possible rating.

The experience of entering, though, is anything but ordinary. After the first few meters of trail, the rock walls narrow to just a 2-meter-wide opening — the spot where, according to Christian legend, San Martino pried the rock apart with his arms. Stretch out your hands and you touch both walls at once: a physically unique sensation, almost claustrophobic for anyone who struggles with tight spaces, but immediately followed by the opening of the inner valley that takes your breath away.

For your safety, wearing a protective helmet is strongly recommended: the risk of small stones falling from the walls is real, especially after heavy rain or in late spring when the thaw loosens debris. The info point at the entrance rents helmets for a nominal fee (€1–2).

The Abbazia di San Martino in Valle

Continuing through the canyon, after about 15–20 minutes of walking, you reach the ruins of the Benedictine Abbazia di San Martino in Valle, uncovered over the past two decades through a long campaign of archaeological excavation. The earliest documented records date to 829 AD, when the monastery already appeared in Benedictine parchments. The complex was active for a millennium, continuously inhabited until 1818, when a violent flood of the Verde torrent destroyed it and led to its final abandonment.

Today you can see the remains of the walls, the church foundations, the water channeling system, and some original floors. The abbey is a quiet reminder that nature respects nothing: the same torrent that nourished the monastery for centuries wiped it out in a single winter night. The riverbed beneath the ruins runs dry in summer but comes alive in winter, still giving a sense of the force that destroyed the complex.

For experienced hikers: from the canyon to Monte Amaro

If you're looking for something more challenging, the H1 trail sets off from the Gole — the most demanding itinerary in the entire Majella National Park: it leads to the summit of Monte Amaro at 2,793 meters, the second-highest peak in the Apennines. Route: 14–15 km, 2,300–2,400 meters of elevation gain, average 9 hours (one way), difficulty EE (Experienced Hikers). Reserved for those with high-mountain experience, trail knowledge, and proper gear.

For those who don't want to go that high but still want more than the base trail, there's a middle-ground option: the ascent to Bocca dei Valloni (2.5 hours, 1,050 meters altitude), which offers sweeping panoramas without requiring mountaineering equipment. The H3 trail from Bocca also allows interesting connections to the Grotta del Cavallone area via Colle Incotto.

The Sorgenti del Verde: a picnic beside the canyon

Back at the parking area, take some time to visit the Sorgenti del Fiume Verde, located right alongside. These are a UNESCO geosited of the Majella Geopark: crystal-clear waters with emerald-green hues, springing directly from the rock with an intense color due to algae and dissolved minerals. The area has picnic tables and benches in the shade of mature trees, right beside the pure spring water. It's one of the most beloved spots for locals in summer: the water is ice-cold (12–14 °C even in August), perfect for cooling your feet after the hike. Historically, these springs fed centuries of mills and fulling mills — wool-processing workshops of Fara. One of them, the Gualchiera Orsatti, still has its original machinery on display.

The Grotta del Cavallone: into the heart of the mountain at 1,475 meters

Thirty minutes by car separate Fara San Martino from Taranta Peligna, the access point for the Grotta del Cavallone. The drive takes you through tiny borghi, deep valleys, and landscapes that speak to the true soul of inland Abruzzo. You arrive at Pian di Valle, at 750 meters above sea level along the SS84 Frentana: this is where the chairlift's departure station is located.

The chairlift: one of the last in Europe

The "Colle Rotondo-Cavallone" chairlift isn't an ordinary cable car — it's a system of small open "baskets" (two-person gondolettes), an extremely rare installation in Europe: only forty remain in operation across the whole continent, and within a few years many will disappear. Built in 1978 after a lengthy environmental debate to promote tourism to the cave, it replaced the previous system of mules and sleds that carried visitors up the valley until the 1970s.

The ride takes about 20 minutes, climbing from 750 to 1,388 meters (638 meters of elevation gain), with breathtaking views over the Vallone di Taranta and the limestone walls of the Majella. Capacity: maximum 2 people per basket. Not recommended for those with vertigo, as the slow movement and height above the ravines can be unsettling. For everyone else, it's a unique experience — something ancient, reminiscent of old mountain-refuge lifts.

From the chairlift to the cave entrance

Arriving at the upper station at 1,388 meters, the journey isn't over yet. From here you continue on foot for about 10 minutes along an uphill path, then up a staircase of 270 steps carved into the rock face and built from wood on the steeper sections, until you reach the cave entrance at 1,475 meters. This detail matters: the entrance altitude of nearly 1,500 meters makes the Grotta del Cavallone "among the highest show caves in Europe," as officially classified by the Associazione Nazionale Città delle Grotte. (Note: it's not "the highest" outright — it's among the highest, a distinction that some tourist sources tend to blur.)

The horse-shaped entrance

The entrance to the Grotta del Cavallone is unforgettable: it juts from the sheer cliff face like an enormous raptor's nest. Viewed from the side, the opening looks exactly like the profile of a horse — the horse's mouth corresponds to the cave entrance, and its right eye, in popular interpretation, marks the inner opening. Hence the name. (An alternative theory: the name may derive from the ancient name of the valley itself, "Valle Cavallo.")

Inside: 1,360 meters of stalactites

The tourist section of the cave extends for about 1,360 meters, with guided tours lasting 1 hour and 15 minutes. The internal temperature is constant: 10 °C year-round, with 96% humidity. Warm layers are essential even in summer (at minimum a fleece, better a windproof jacket). Closed-toe non-slip shoes: in some sections the floor is wet and slippery.

Inside you pass through memorable chambers. The first is the Galleria della Devastazione, where the chaos of ancient collapses creates tortured, jagged forms. Then you reach the Sala di Aligi, named after the protagonist of D'Annunzio's pastoral tragedy set in this very cave — it's also the chamber where the people of Taranta Peligna took refuge in autumn 1943, during the German occupation, when the front had stalled along the Gustav Line. You continue past concretions, stalactites, and stalagmites to the final tourist highlight: the Anfiteatro, with a spectacular vaulted ceiling of stalactites.

Beyond the tourist section, the cave continues for over two kilometers in total, with the Pozzo senza fine (Endless Pit) and the Ramo dei Laghi (Lake Branch), discovered by speleologists from Oxford University in the 1950s. These sections are reserved for cavers.

The story: from rediscovery to D'Annunzio

The cave has been known since antiquity — used as shelter by transhumant shepherds — but after centuries of abandonment it was rediscovered in 1865 by a shepherd from Taranta Peligna named Matteo Ciavarra, who, while chasing a stray goat, ventured back into the cave for the first time in more than a century. That same year, Dr. Egidio Rinaldi explored it further, pushing past the point known as "Bolgia Dantesca." In 1893, Alessandro De Lucia, town clerk of Pretoro, descended the "Pozzo senza fine" with a farmer and two miners, and subsequently founded the Società delle Grotte del Cavallone e del Bue. That same year, the stone-carved access staircase — still in use today — was completed.

International recognition came, however, in 1904, when painter Francesco Paolo Michetti designed the scenography for the second act of Gabriele D'Annunzio's pastoral tragedy La figlia di Iorio (1903), drawing inspiration from the cave's entrance hall. The success of D'Annunzio's work was such that the cave acquired the nickname "Grotta della Figlia di Iorio" — the name by which it is still known today. In 1907, spelunker Luigi Vittorio Bertarelli calculated its internal dimensions; in 1912, Giovanni Battista De Gasperi produced its first modern survey map.

When the cave is open

The Grotta del Cavallone has a limited opening calendar due to climatic conditions and accessibility constraints (at 1,475 meters, the viable season is short). Typical openings: Easter Monday, April 25, May 1, weekends in June, daily from July 1 to September 15, last weekends of September. Approximate hours: 9:00–16:00. Always check ahead on the official website grottadelcavallone.it.

Tickets and booking

Adult tickets: €20 full price (chairlift round trip €13 + cave entrance €7), €15 reduced for children, seniors, and groups (chairlift €10 + entrance €5). Booking is strongly recommended, especially on weekends and in high season: booking online saves long waits. Tel. 0872 951922 / 351 9293832, email biglietteria@grottadelcavallone.it.

Abbeys and lesser-known stories: what else to see

The Benedictine Abbazia di San Martino in Valle

Already described above as part of the Gole trail, it deserves attention as a standalone monument. Recent archaeological campaigns have uncovered a complex larger than expected: a true Benedictine "monastic city" with workshops, mills, a water channeling system, and a guesthouse. Documented from 829 AD, it reached its peak in the 13th–14th centuries, when it housed dozens of monks and managed lands, mills, and pastures from Fara all the way to Monte Amaro. Decline began in the 17th century; final abandonment came after the flood of 1818.

The Museo Naturalistico Archeologico di Fara San Martino

An information point and museum of the Majella National Park in the heart of Fara San Martino. It displays archaeological finds from prehistory to the Middle Ages discovered in the Gole and surrounding area, along with natural history documentation of the eastern Majella. Open in high season; modest entrance fee.

The Apennine Chamois Wildlife Area (Lama dei Peligni)

Ten minutes by car from Taranta Peligna, the Apennine Chamois Wildlife Area is a reintroduction sanctuary for the Apennine chamois, an endemic subspecies of central Italy that came close to extinction in the 20th century. Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata is an Italian subspecies of the Pyrenean chamois, recognized only since 1899. Today over 500 individuals live in the Majella Park, reintroduced starting in 1991 from the Abruzzo National Park. At the wildlife area you can observe the animals in semi-controlled freedom in an educational setting. Pair the visit with the Museo Naturalistico Archeologico and the Michele Tenore Botanical Garden in Lama dei Peligni.

The borgo of Pretoro

Fifteen minutes from the Passolanciano-Majelletta ski slopes, Pretoro is one of Italy's Borghi più Belli d'Italia (Most Beautiful Villages). A medieval borgo perched on a rocky spur, with narrow alleys, ancient churches, and a panoramic view over the Valle dell'Aventino. From here a path leads up to the Blockhaus, a military fort built in 1863 by the Savoy army to combat brigands. Along the trail from Rifugio Bruno Pomilio to the Blockhaus, you'll find the Tavola dei Briganti: limestone slabs on which 19th-century brigands and shepherds carved their names — a stone book bearing witness to post-unification outlawry in the Majella. The "Indro Montanelli" trail leading there is also barrier-free, accessible to people with disabilities or elderly visitors.

One-day itinerary: how to combine the Gole and the Grotta

If you have just one day and want to see both geosites, here's the recommended itinerary:

Morning (8:30–12:30): Gole di Fara San Martino. Set off from the Sorgenti del Verde parking area at 9:00, take the base trail to the Abbazia di San Martino in Valle (2 hours round trip with stops), then rest at the Sorgenti del Verde to take in the emerald waters. Lunch from a packed bag or at one of Fara San Martino's restaurants (specialties: fresh egg pasta from Fara, scottadito lamb chops).

Afternoon (14:00–18:00): Grotta del Cavallone. Thirty minutes by car from Fara to Pian di Valle (Taranta Peligna). Chairlift at 14:30, 20-minute ascent, 10 minutes on foot, guided cave tour 1 hour 15 minutes, chairlift back down. Aim to arrive by 14:00 to secure the best time slot and avoid the 16:00 closing.

For dinner: heading down from Taranta Peligna, stop in Lama dei Peligni or Casoli for a full Abruzzo meat spread (arrosticini, cured meats, pecorino). If you prefer a slower pace, an agriturismo overnight in Lama dei Peligni or Palena lets you continue the next day with the more demanding trails of the eastern Majella.

Practical tips for your visit

When to go

Best season: May–June and September. The Gole are visitable year-round, but in winter the trail can be slippery from ice or fresh snow. The Grotta del Cavallone is open only from mid-April to late September: outside this window it's not accessible. July–August are crowded: book the chairlift at least 2–3 days ahead. Avoid days of heavy rain: the risk of rockfall in the Gole increases, and the chairlift may be suspended.

What to bring

For the Gole: hiking shoes (even sneakers with a decent sole are fine for the base trail), a water bottle, a protective helmet (rentable at the info point), a light jacket even in summer (it's cool inside the canyon), and optionally trekking poles for the Monte Amaro trail. For the Grotta del Cavallone: a warm jacket even in August (constant 10 °C inside), closed-toe non-slip shoes, no headlamp needed (the cave is lit), a small backpack for personal items.

With children

The Gole are suitable even for young children (ages 4–5 and up): the trail is easy, there are regular stopping points, and the canyon's dramatic scenery captivates kids. No strollers or prams on the uneven ground. The Grotta del Cavallone is suitable for children from ages 5–6: the chairlift can be frightening for very young children or those with vertigo, but once inside it's a thrilling adventure. Make sure they're not afraid of the dark or enclosed spaces.

With dogs

Dogs on a leash are allowed in the Gole, but only as far as the abbey: beyond that point, the presence of wildlife (wolves, bears) and challenging terrain make it impractical. No dogs are permitted inside the Grotta del Cavallone, for safety reasons and to protect the cave ecosystem.

Accessibility

The Gole base trail is accessible to people with moderate mobility difficulties (flat path, compact terrain with some uneven sections). Not suitable for wheelchairs. The Grotta del Cavallone is not accessible to people with motor disabilities: 270 steps to the entrance, with elevation changes inside. The chairlift itself is wheelchair-accessible with assistance.

Where to stay in the area

To visit both geosites without rushing, plan for at least two nights in the area. Your options:

Fara San Martino: a small borgo with family-run agriturismi and B&Bs (€50–90 for a double). Specialties: traditional pasta cuisine, canyon views.

Lama dei Peligni: a historic borgo with good accommodation, ideally placed between Fara and Taranta. Hotels and agriturismi (€60–100).

Palena: 20 minutes from both sites, at altitude (760 m), pure mountain air. A historic hotel and B&Bs with Abruzzo specialties.

Roccaraso or Pescocostanzo: 40 minutes away, ideal in winter for combining geosite visits with skiing. More hotels and tourist facilities, prices €80–200.

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To explore the eastern Majella more deeply: read our article on the Majella National Park and UNESCO Geopark, discover the Celestine hermitages of the Majella, and plan a hike to Monte Amaro starting right from Fara San Martino.

Happy travels.