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 Along the road climbing up the mount Agerola, at the very back of Amalfi, we
encounter another coast, outlined by the earth and not by the sea, made of terraced
and fenced gardens but not of beaches. It is the village Conca dei Marini, a
village scattered among the sky, the sea and the earth. Here the dominant colour
is not the deep blue of the sea of Praiano or Positano, but rather the dark green
of a prosperous and thick vegetation, here and there spotted by the yellow of
the splendid lemons of the Coast. A modest charm, less loud but rich of wonderful
corners: little churches, little terraces and hillocks with fine views linked
to each other by flights of small and narrow steps running around the houses.
Conca dei Marini is a village of little white houses, each of them having its
own garden: isolated, little houses, far from each other, scattered between the
coast and the mountain, from the slopes of the mountain downwards to a promontory
(Conca Cape) so called because of the remains of a sight tower. Not far below,
there is the seashore. A few delightful houses clinging to a steep and rocky
coast, which then opens to the sweetness of a splendid natural inlet. Here the
sea overbearingly takes up the whole scene again: it claims its rights, even
in the most rural village of the Coast. However, as a homage to the surrounding
vegetation, it gathers in its blue a bit of green, the brilliant and ultra mundane
green of the water of the Emerald Cave (Grotta dello Smeraldo).
The Cave is to the west of the Cape Conca bay, and it can be also reached from
the state road, either by a lift or by a long flight of little steps. It is a
large Karst cavity with a dome vault 24 mt high, 30 mt wide and 60 mt long. Even
though it is partly invaded by the sea, in it there are a lot of calcareous formations,
stalactites and stalagmites. This shows that the Cave underwent a Brady seism
phenomenon: because it is impossible that such concretions emerged in the water,
it is clear that the Cave was once much higher than sea level. The peculiar colour
of its waters is due to the light which penetrates from below, through a kind
of underwater chimney. In the depth of the Cave, underwater, some years ago a
ceramic crib was set. Tradition dates the discovery of the cave in the first
decades of the 20th century, but the book of the guests of the Hotel Luna tells
that:
"
for the sake of foreign travellers loving beautiful things...we would like people
to know about the discovery made about a month ago in the neighbourhood of Amalfl,
in the village of Conca, of a kind of' Monstrous" cave which, because of
its rare beauty represents a real phenomenon capable of enrapturing those who
are used to travelling all around the world in search of wonders. Therefore,
not paradoxically, we dare to say, that this beautiful phenomenon, produced only
by nature, can compete with Vesuvius, because it is really capable of fully satisfying
the curiosity of the harshest and most intelligent critics of beautiful rarities.
During such an excursion, we advise you to resort to the guide of a certain Luigi
Miloni, a most expert gui - t de and also capable of taking the greatest care
of foreigners". Amalfi. Written at the Hotel Luna on February 12th 1858. |
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