Hermit's cave
The Cave
The Heremit’s Cave is located in the municipality of Farindola on a steep slope above the Valle d’Angri, below the Valichetto dei Paponi from where the path to reach it starts.
The cave is located at an altitude close to 1300 meters above sea level, it is made up of calcareous rocks from which small stalactites and a few whitish stalagmites protrude, the depth of the cave is modest around 20 meters, but the same.
Inside the Hermit’s Cave you can find bats that live there permanently, there are also spiders and insects of various types and occasionally even reptiles and amphibians.
Short excursions, open to all, allow you to appreciate the large cavity which, from a panoramic position, dominates the Mortaio d’Angri. There are no reliable sources on the history of the cave.
The CAI map (1999) mentions it in the description relating to itinerary 20, but then “forgets” to view it on the map, among other things, itinerary 20 is wrong because, currently, it does not correspond to the signs placed on site.
The altitude reported on the cadastral data, 1475 meters, is inaccurate. Most likely the most truthful is between the one indicated by Stefano Ardito (1336 m; See biblio 3) and the one referred to by the CAI in the description of itinerary 20 (1300 m).
The last note concerns the presence of signs which, from the entrance to the cave, invite you to descend (it would be an excellent solution for those heading to the Case dei Buoi, etc.) but which disappear after a few meters on difficult terrain.
For an excursion open to all, the advice is: going up from the Tito Acerbo refuge at the third hairpin bend on the left, while if you go down from Vado di Sole at the fourth right, +/- at 1400m a cart track starts which horizontally first crosses the Fosso di Pietra Rossa, then passes under the vertical walls of Pietrabianca and finally reaches the Valichetto dei Paponi at an altitude of 1420 meters. From the pass (sign), going downhill, in 15 minutes you reach the large and panoramic cave.