Italy Velvet · CC BY-SA 3.0
The descent
The entrance, at 296 m.
The real relief above Romito Cave, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.
The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey. No depth has been published for this cave yet.
296m
Entrance altitude
published (Wikidata)
16°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
245m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
12,000
Visitors a year
published (Wikidata)
Inside and outside
16 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 16 °C here, in January and in August. In August the afternoon reaches 30 °C at the entrance, 14 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from July to August. The wettest months are from November to January: water rises fast underground, so never go in without a guide after heavy rain.
- 11°6°Jan
- 11°6°Feb
- 14°7°Mar
- 17°10°Apr
- 21°14°May
- 26°18°Jun
- 30°21°Jul
- 30°21°Aug
- 25°18°Sep
- 21°14°Oct
- 16°11°Nov
- 12°7°Dec
Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.
Cave in the Lao Valley of Pollino National Park, near the town of Papasidero in Calabria, Italy
Romito Cave is a cave in Italy. The entrance is at 296 m. It has an underground river and stalactites and stalagmites. It is open to visitors. It lies within Pollino National Park.
Getting there.
- Show cave: open to visitorsUsually with a guided tour; check times and tickets on the official site.
- Papasideronearest town · 4.8 km in a straight line
- Lamezia Terme Sant'Eufemia International Airport (SUF)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 115 km in a straight lineCar hire at SUF airport (Lamezia Terme)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The water
The Fiume Lao runs highest from November to February.
The Fiume Lao carries about 5.3 m³/s on average here. It runs highest from November to February. It is lowest from June to September.
- 10 m³/sJan
- 8.9 m³/sFeb
- 7.6 m³/sMar
- 5.3 m³/sApr
- 3.3 m³/sMay
- 1.8 m³/sJun
- 1.1 m³/sJul
- 1.0 m³/sAug
- 2.8 m³/sSep
- 4.8 m³/sOct
- 8.7 m³/sNov
- 9.4 m³/sDec
From about 0.99 m³/s in the lowest month to 10 m³/s in the highest. Its basin above this point covers 376 km².
The Lao River from source to mouth on Riveryas — coming soon
Estimate: long-term flow from the HydroATLAS model (WaterGAP, 1971–2000) shaped by the monthly rain, snow and temperature of the area (NASA POWER). Dams change it. Not a forecast.
From above.
The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.
N
1.5 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the entrance.
- 1other cave entrances within 3 kmGrotta del Romito
- 2marked hiking routes within 3 kmSentiero Laino Borgo - Malomo - Cavallino
- 3campsites within 8 kmPollino Rafting, River Tribe
- 10hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmAgriturismo Parco Villa Elena, Palia's Hotel Ristorante, Edelweiss and 7 more
- 2restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- springs within 2 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- viewpoints within 3 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- car parks within 2 km
- information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- bus stops within 2 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Papasidero4.8 km in a straight line
- Laino Castello-Nuovo Centro4.9 km in a straight line
- Mormanno5.7 km in a straight line
- Laino Borgo6.1 km in a straight line
- Aieta9.2 km in a straight line
- Rotonda10 km in a straight line
- Castelluccio Inferiore11 km in a straight line
- Castelluccio Superiore12 km in a straight line
In our other atlases
What else is around Romito Cave.
The river at the entrance, the waterfalls, the lakes, the mountains and volcanoes above, the canyons, beaches and islands nearby — from our other atlases.
Riveryas1 rivers at the entranceFigures from the sister sites' databases (Wikidata, HydroATLAS, GeoNames, NOAA, OpenStreetMap). Links open when each site is online.
Month by month
The weather outside, at the entrance.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | 11 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 21 | 26 | 30 | 30 | 25 | 21 | 16 | 12 |
| Afternoon | 11 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 21 | 26 | 30 | 30 | 25 | 21 | 16 | 12 |
| Night | 6 | 6 | 7 | 10 | 14 | 18 | 21 | 21 | 18 | 14 | 11 | 7 |
| Rain (mm) | 116 | 94 | 84 | 62 | 50 | 34 | 29 | 31 | 73 | 88 | 128 | 107 |
| Rainy days | 13 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 9 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 11 | 14 | 14 |
| Sun hours/day | 3.4 | 4.2 | 5.4 | 7.0 | 8.6 | 10.7 | 11.6 | 10.5 | 7.5 | 6.0 | 4.1 | 3.5 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 11 | 11 | 6 | 116 | 3.4 |
| Feb | 11 | 11 | 6 | 94 | 4.2 |
| Mar | 14 | 14 | 7 | 84 | 5.4 |
| Apr | 17 | 17 | 10 | 62 | 7.0 |
| May | 21 | 21 | 14 | 50 | 8.6 |
| Jun | 26 | 26 | 18 | 34 | 10.7 |
| Jul | 30 | 30 | 21 | 29 | 11.6 |
| Aug | 30 | 30 | 21 | 31 | 10.5 |
| Sep | 25 | 25 | 18 | 73 | 7.5 |
| Oct | 21 | 21 | 14 | 88 | 6.0 |
| Nov | 16 | 16 | 11 | 128 | 4.1 |
| Dec | 12 | 12 | 7 | 107 | 3.5 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (296 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Inside and around.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 10% | 42% | 79% | 110% | 99% | 177% | 264% | 227% | 109% | 216% | 60% | 159% |
| 2021 | 162% | 366% | 77% | 75% | 40% | 70% | 32% | 108% | 55% | 92% | 121% | 137% |
| 2022 | 22% | 51% | 72% | 77% | 57% | 47% | 44% | 156% | 142% | 77% | 138% | 82% |
| 2023 | 138% | 40% | 77% | 115% | 315% | 160% | 21% | 95% | 26% | 90% | 103% | 49% |
| 2024 | 85% | 113% | 99% | 51% | 86% | 41% | 50% | 112% | 87% | 57% | 32% | 86% |
| 2025 | 77% | 54% | 99% | 36% | 245% | 38% | 58% | 89% | 65% | 820% | 175% | 65% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Romito Cave
Italy
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 296 mEntrance altitude
- 16 °CInside, all year
Castelcivita Caves
Italy · 89 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 106 mEntrance altitude
- 17 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q750837) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| River flow and basin | HydroATLAS / RiverATLAS v1.0 (Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
| Rivers, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, canyons, beaches and islands nearby | Coastya, Lakeyas, Peakyas, Cascadyas, Islandyas, Riveryas |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
The family
Do you prefer beaches, lakes, mountains, waterfalls, islands, rivers, canyons, caves, dark skies, viewpoints, birdwatching or forests?
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