The Capo di Leuca area is a strip of land that stretches between the Adriatic Sea and the Ionian Sea. There are many locations that overlook the sea and which include the traits of the Salento Coast. The karst nature of the land over the centuries has led to the creation of many caves and coves close to the rocky shores of Salento; within them they are often precious prehistoric relics that tell the origins of Leuca ground and pass important information about the earliest hominids were using attend the caves.
The sea of Santa Maria di Leuca is undoubtedly the most generous place of these wonders of Salento: here, on the extreme tip of Italy to the endless shades of blue of the Ionian and Adriatic, are some of the most beautiful caves of the whole peninsula, rocky cliffs overlooking the sea of incomparable forms and colors that have helped to make this part of the Cape of Leuca tourist destination with unique charm.
The route starts from Cazzafri Caves, the first visited leaving the port of Santa Maria di Leuca right under the monumental staircase leading to the shrine. These are two deep cavities over 20 meters who join the fund whose rocks present a varied coloration which tends to blue especially during sunset. It then moves on to the Grotta di Terrarico Bouches, located near the tip of the promontory Terrarico and characterized by the presence of numerous stalactites and stalagmites, and the Grotta del Pozzo, also known as the Great Cave of the Ciolo.
Through the Blue Cave, the Cave of Cipolliane, the Matron Cave and the Cave of Prazziche you end the route by boat to Leuca stopping at the Grotta del Drago whose shape, with the complicity of the play of light and shadow, recalls head of a dragon. At the center of the cave you can admire a large rock topped by a stalagmite called “tooth of the dragon” completely open to swimming.