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Subterranean grottoes

 If you are looking to add a bit of adventure to your trip while staying on the Riviera di Romagna, plan on making an excursion to explore the grottoes and other subterranean sites in the area.

• In the Marches region, one hour from Rimini, you'll find the Frasassi grottoes, which are the biggest and best known in Italy. The main gallery is 223 metres.
• The grottoes of Onferno, located in the Valconca, are surrounded by a natural reserve, which contains important wildlife. This evocative karstic complex, equipped with an entrance and exit, is almost 400 metres long, with a drop of 64 metres.
  It is said that Dante Alighieri was inspired by these grottoes when he described the entrance into Hell of his Divine Comedy.
• The grottoes of Ponte Santa Maria Maddalena, which are 300 metres in length, and the five gypsum caves of San Marino, the largest of which is 145 metres with a 136 metre drop, are also natural cavities.
• The grottoes of Santarcangelo, laid out on three levels, are a veritable underground city dug out by man. There are more than one hundred, but only a portion of these can be visited.
• The numerous passages under Rimini were also created by man; the underground network of Cattolica dating back to the Bizantine era; the underground passages of Saludecio and the hills of Covignano and Verucchio; and the underground military tunnels of Mondaino.