Cavità artificiali a Macchiavalfortore

In the municipality of Macchia Valfortore, a hill town located in the valley of Fortore in the province of Campobasso, at about 477 m above sea level, there is a considerable number of artificial hypogeal sites dug in the outcrops of sandstone and Pliocene sands.
The most ancient attestations of the existence of these artificial cavities date back to the first half of the 17th century and the excavation of the cavities continued uninterruptedly until the last century. The cavities are partly closed by walls with one or more entrances; some of them are crumbling or completely collapsed, others, instead, are still used as deposits. The investigations carried out so far have made it possible to identify and catalogue 81 cavities distributed in 12 nuclei, 8 of which are located inside the town and 4 in the surrounding countryside. On the eastern side of the village there are 5 nuclei, distributed along bordering roads.