ITALY TRIP - Why you should not steal stalactites

Nigel and I went on without the offspring to the very north of Tuscany - Garfagnana in the Appenine Alps.

Our first stop was the Grotta del Vento (Cave of the Wind), a very beautiful cave system in the limestone mountains. 

Our guide gave the tour in Italian, but she was half Scottish and had also narrated the audio guide in a soft Scottish-Italian accent.  I was enraptured at this commentary which was not only informative, but ....poetic.

On Stealing Stalactites

Outside the cave, 

the beauty of the stalactite is ephemeral 

as, without the humidity of the caves, 

and the water-drops,

they lose their translucency, 

their colours dull, 

and they are quickly covered by moss.

The Hall of Voices

We are at the bottom of the Giant's Abyss. 

This is called the Hall of Voices. 

This is because the explorers often reported hearing voices. 

These always came from the upper part of the abyss. 

Sometimes they would even go back up a tunnel 

to see if anyone was there. 

But there was no-one.
The sound of voices was partly due to physical factors 

- the drops were made louder and prolonged 

by the roundness of the tunnels. 

But also by psychological factors. 

It is a well-known acoustic phenomenon by which
the speleologist, left alone for hours, 

waiting for his team of companions to come back 

would tend to interpret any sounds he heard 

as the words and footsteps of his companions 

because of his subconscious desire to interrupt
this difficult time of isolation.