Grotta Mangiapane — Attraction in Custonaci

Mangiapane caves nearby Custonaci. This cave has been used from a local family for many years, where they settles and built their houses and stables. They were farming in the opposite field and fishing into the sea no more than 500 mt far away.

It's a nice place to visit, not more than 10-15 minutes as there is nobody to ask information. However, the place is so suggestive, especially if you look from the entrance, where you can see this big cave literally eating the houses. The more you walk in, the more it looks like everything remained stick to 50 years ago. I guess this is the result of a conservation program ran by the local authority, but again at the time of my visit nobody was there to either ask something or to leave a tip as requested.

Nowadays the place is used for a living nativity...

A truly sad place. The living beings are kept in tiny enclosures that are far from adequate for their needs. You can clearly see many of them displaying abnormal behaviors and signs of distress. It’s just heartbreaking and disturbing. What’s worse, the birds have had their wings brutally clipped, and feathers were torn out to prevent them from flying away. This adds absolutely nothing positive to the “experience” at this farm. I strongly recommend they stop keeping live beings in the future. It would not detract from the place’s appeal, and visitors wouldn’t feel uncomfortable witnessing such cruel conditions.

Un luogo veramente triste. Gli individui viventi sono tenuti in recinti troppo piccoli, assolutamente inadatti ai loro bisogni. È evidente che molti di loro mostrano comportamenti anomali e segni di disagio. È semplicemente straziante e inquietante. Ancora peggio, agli uccelli sono state brutalmente tagliate le ali e strappate le piume per impedire loro di volare via. Questo non aggiunge nulla di positivo all’ “esperienza” offerta da questa fattoria. Consiglio vivamente di smettere di tenere individui viventi in futuro. Non toglierebbe fascino al luogo, e i visitatori non si sentirebbero a disagio nel vedere tali condizioni crudeli.

Ein wirklich trauriger Ort. Die lebenden Individuen werden in winzigen Ställen gehalten, die ihren Bedürfnissen absolut nicht gerecht werden. Man kann deutlich sehen, dass viele von ihnen unter Verhaltensstörungen leiden und atypisches Verhalten zeigen. Noch schlimmer: Den Vögeln wurden auf brutale Weise die Flügel gestutzt, und Federn wurden ihnen ausgerissen, um sie vom Wegfliegen abzuhalten. Das ist einfach nur traurig und verstörend. Das trägt absolut nichts Positives zur “Experience” auf diesem Hof bei. Ich empfehle dringend, in Zukunft auf die Haltung lebender Individuen zu verzichten. Das würde dem Ort keinen Reiz nehmen, sondern das Erlebnis verbessern, da die Besucher sich nicht unwohl fühlen müssten, solche grausamen...

This place will soon be part of the UNESCO or will have anyhow a lot of attentions, it contains some ancient graffiti, dated more than 10thousands years ago, and it used to be underwater, inside you can find some seadates. It was also a city built apparently by a family called Mangiapane, who used to live there for about 150 years, building a village. Andrea, the responsible of the place, looks after it so well and he's very passionate about it! I wish you to meet him. It's too hard to explain how much there is in this place to be seen, you better check it out yourself, it is definitely a MUST place if you are even not...