In April last year, I was among a group of four people (two couples) who flew to Trapani in Sicily.
We also visited Erice, perched on its scenic hill, and the marvellously sited Greek temple of Segesta in the vicinity, not far from where Garibaldi, the hero of Italian unification, won the historic battle of Calatafimi against the Bourbon troops in 1860.
At Trapani harbour we boarded a ferry for Favignana, the main island of the Egadi archipelago, famous for its tuna fisheries. Then the ferry continued to the minor port of the small island of Lévanzo.
On disembarking there, we attempted a long trek towards the west coast, hoping to reach the Grotta del Genovese, or Grotta di Cala dei Genovesi, which we had heard much about, famous for its remarkable prehistoric cave drawings.
It was not to be. We trekked over asphalt, then over badlands, reaching the island’s peak at over 300 metres. A dead end. And we had to descend back to civilisation through a steep pine forest, being very careful where to find a foothold. We had missed our chance, or so we thought.
I was back on the island two days later by ferry with my wife, after phoning the cave’s owner and caretaker, Natale Castiglione. He drove in his four-wheel Jeep along the east coast, then veered west through the empty landscape.
He stopped his Jeep at a makeshift car park. We descended gradually over rock and grass for some 600 metres, holding on to wooden barriers until we reached a clearing.
Then Castiglione produced his pocket torch before the mouth of a medium-sized cave. Along with two other visitors, we ducked as we entered the cave to avoid hitting our heads. After a few metres we could stand erect again in a clear flat space. With Castiglione’s torch we could make out incisions in the rock on the left, and on the right cave wall.
The paintings of humans and of animals in black were clearly visible. The engravings date back to 11,000 years BC, hence they are Palaeolithic or of the earliest Stone Age. The black paintings in animal pigment date from 8,000 BC, hence they are Early Neolithic.
This prehistoric find was made by Francesca Minellono, a painter from Florence, who was holidaying on Levanzo in 1949.
The cave has been famous ever since. The finds belong to a period when the islands of Lévanzo, Favignana and Marettimo were joined to Sicily, before the sea level rose to isolate them.
They exhibit humans in different stances, and different Palaeolithic age animals such as cave bears.
Having whetted our appetite for landscape and history, we caught the ferry back to Trapani, which we reached in 30 minutes.
Entrance upon reservation is €10 (2010); e-mail: info@grottadelgenovese.it; www.grottadelgenovese.it. For booking information contact Natale Castiglione on tel 0039 0923 924032 or 0039 339 7418800.
Le Grotte dell’Addaura
Similar Palaeolithic drawings of animals and humans are to be found at the mountain caves of Addaura (derived from the Arabic, similar to Maltese Id-Dawra), on Monte Pellegrino, just outside Palermo.
These caves are often closed to visitors because of restoration and maintenance works. One should therefore inquire about opening hours before attempting an excursion there. They are most interesting.
These cave drawings could give us an inkling of the pre-Neolithic way of life in Sicily and in Malta.
Malta’s 23 temples, which were built during the peiod 3,600 to 2,500 BC, are of an altogether much more evolved and advanced civilisation and culture.
Contacts then with Sicily were both common and sporadic, since the two islands are separated by at least 93 km of sea. Yet, pottery, flint, obsidian and alabaster were still occasionally imported from Sicily and its northern or western islands, the main island, Lipari and Pantelleria.
The ports of Pozzallo, Licata, and Catania must have witnessed plenty of sailings towards Malta and Gozo during our Temple period. And our history is the richer for that.