Italy Geppi Simone · CC BY-SA 3.0
The descent
The entrance, at 130 m.
The real relief above Grotta di Santa Croce, measured on the Copernicus model every 30 m, and the cave going down at the same vertical scale.
The depth is the one published by those who explored it; the shape of the galleries is a sketch, not a survey. No depth has been published for this cave yet.
130m
Entrance altitude
from the 30 m relief model
17°C
Inside, all year
the yearly average outside, at the entrance
38m
Rock above
the highest point within 1.5 km
Inside and outside
17 °C inside, all year.
Deep inside, a cave keeps the average temperature of the year outside: about 17 °C here, in January and in August. In July the afternoon reaches 34 °C at the entrance, 17 °C warmer than inside: take a jacket. The best months to escape the heat are from June to September.
- 12°4°Jan
- 13°4°Feb
- 16°6°Mar
- 20°9°Apr
- 25°13°May
- 30°18°Jun
- 34°21°Jul
- 34°21°Aug
- 28°17°Sep
- 23°13°Oct
- 17°9°Nov
- 13°5°Dec
Outside: afternoon and night averages for 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) brought to the altitude of the entrance. Inside: the yearly average, which deep parts of a cave keep. Near the entrance it follows the weather a little.
Cave in Apulia, Italy
Grotta di Santa Croce is a cave in Italy. The entrance is at 130 m.
Getting there.
- Wild cave: only with caving equipmentNo paths or lights inside. Go only with a caving club or a qualified guide.
- Coratonearest town · 5.6 km in a straight line
- Bari Karol Wojtyła International Airport (BRI)nearest airport with scheduled flights · 25 km in a straight lineCar hire at BRI airport (Bari)Discover Cars · sponsored link↗
Plan the visit
Guided tours, a bed nearby, a car.
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
From above.
The ground above the cave, with the relief shaded, the line of the section and what people have mapped around the entrance.
N
1.5 km
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 (EOX, CC BY 4.0), 6.0 × 6.0 km, north up. The line is the section above. Points © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Around the entrance.
- 2other cave entrances within 3 kmGrotte di Santa Croce, Grotta del Finestrino
- 2marked hiking routes within 3 kmVia Francigena - 09 Puglia, Cammino di Don Tonino - Tappa 1
- 1car parks within 2 km
- 2information boards and visitor centres within 3 km
- 7campsites within 8 kmBrezza Tra Gli Ulivi, Autoparco Valente Giulio, Area Camper Via Scarlatti and 4 more
- 45hotels and guesthouses within 8 kmAppia Antica, Zio Cataldo, Ulivi di San Giuliano and 42 more
- 2restaurants and cafés within 3 km
- springs within 2 km
- sinkholes within 3 km
- caving clubs and spots within 15 km
- viewpoints within 3 km
- climbing crags within 3 km
- named waterfalls within 4 km
- bus stops within 2 km
Counted in OpenStreetMap, the map anyone can edit, around the entrance. A low number may just mean nobody has mapped it yet. © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL).
Towns nearby
- Corato5.6 km in a straight line
- Ruvo di Puglia6.7 km in a straight line
- Bisceglie7.8 km in a straight line
- Terlizzi8.3 km in a straight line
- Capirro9.4 km in a straight line
- Molfetta11 km in a straight line
- Trani12 km in a straight line
- Andria16 km in a straight line
Month by month
The weather outside, at the entrance.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afternoon | 12 | 13 | 16 | 20 | 25 | 30 | 34 | 34 | 28 | 23 | 17 | 13 |
| Afternoon | 12 | 13 | 16 | 20 | 25 | 30 | 34 | 34 | 28 | 23 | 17 | 13 |
| Night | 4 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 13 | 18 | 21 | 21 | 17 | 13 | 9 | 5 |
| Rain (mm) | 58 | 44 | 54 | 47 | 41 | 36 | 32 | 29 | 53 | 64 | 71 | 59 |
| Rainy days | 10 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 12 |
| Sun hours/day | 3.7 | 4.5 | 6.0 | 7.4 | 9.1 | 10.6 | 10.9 | 9.7 | 7.4 | 5.8 | 4.0 | 3.4 |
| Snow on the ground (cm) | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Afternoon | Afternoon | Night | Rain (mm) | Sun hours/day | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 12 | 12 | 4 | 58 | 3.7 |
| Feb | 13 | 13 | 4 | 44 | 4.5 |
| Mar | 16 | 16 | 6 | 54 | 6.0 |
| Apr | 20 | 20 | 9 | 47 | 7.4 |
| May | 25 | 25 | 13 | 41 | 9.1 |
| Jun | 30 | 30 | 18 | 36 | 10.6 |
| Jul | 34 | 34 | 21 | 32 | 10.9 |
| Aug | 34 | 34 | 21 | 29 | 9.7 |
| Sep | 28 | 28 | 17 | 53 | 7.4 |
| Oct | 23 | 23 | 13 | 64 | 5.8 |
| Nov | 17 | 17 | 9 | 71 | 4.0 |
| Dec | 13 | 13 | 5 | 59 | 3.4 |
Averages 1991–2020 (NASA POWER) for a cell about 55 km wide, brought to the altitude of the entrance (130 m) with the standard lapse rate. Not a forecast.
Photographs
Inside and around.
Recent years
Wet years, dry years.
Rain of each month as a share of the 1991–2020 average. A dry year means a lower river and hotter rock; a wet one, more water in the gorge.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 6% | 69% | 119% | 106% | 84% | 135% | 448% | 521% | 57% | 302% | 131% | 159% |
| 2021 | 136% | 699% | 74% | 50% | 21% | 28% | 33% | 72% | 39% | 69% | 128% | 121% |
| 2022 | 57% | 126% | 86% | 35% | 69% | 102% | 90% | 124% | 70% | 86% | 143% | 68% |
| 2023 | 141% | 23% | 102% | 158% | 226% | 146% | 7% | 39% | 40% | 40% | 55% | 31% |
| 2024 | 33% | 142% | 88% | 40% | 69% | 38% | 45% | 69% | 81% | 46% | 34% | 83% |
| 2025 | 126% | 97% | 83% | 44% | 76% | 21% | 25% | 72% | 87% | 780% | 144% | 126% |
130% or more: wet month 70% or less: dry month
Caves nearby.
Grotta di Santa Croce
Italy
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 130 mEntrance altitude
- 17 °CInside, all year
Pulo di Altamura
Italy · 33 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 383 mEntrance altitude
- 15 °CInside, all year
Pulicchio di Gravina
Italy · 31 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 483 mEntrance altitude
- 14 °CInside, all year
Castellana Caves
Italy · 66 km
- —Depth
- —Galleries
- 331 mEntrance altitude
- 16 °CInside, all year
Where these figures come from
| Name, type, published depth and length, visitors | Wikidata (Q3777097) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| The relief above, the entrance altitude, the section and the 3D model | Copernicus DEM GLO-30 · © DLR e.V., © Airbus Defence and Space GmbH, Copernicus/ESA |
| Climate | NASA POWER, 1991–2020 |
| Entrances, springs, sinkholes, opening hours and what is around | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every figure is an average, an estimate or a count from a public dataset. Licences and methods: data sources.
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