Grotta Zinzulusa
The Zinzulusa Cave is a natural coastline along the Salento coast, between Castro and Santa Cesarea Terme. The name derives from the dialect "zinzuli", rags, due to the karst formations, especially stalactites, which hang from the ceiling like hanging rags. The formation of the Cave, which took place for marine erosion, is led back to the Pliocene period. Ideally divided into three areas (entrance, crypt and bottom), the Cave is invaded by waters both marine and sweet. From the point of view of fauna, it is interesting the presence of sponges, organisms generally not suitable for isolated environments. It was Bishop of Castro, Antonio Francesco del Duca to discover it in 1793. The names and dates that are read on the Cave's walls were written with the guano bat from the workers who cleaned up in the year 1940. The Karst Waters Institute (KWI) has entered the Cave in the list of the ten karst systems at increased risk. In 1968 the director Carmelo Bene turned in this Cave some sequences of the film "Our Lady of the Turks".
