> Sperlonga delle Do Boche <

The cave opens at 1,150 m a.s.l. alongside the Slipari trail that descends from the Paradise locality to the Pian del Cansiglio. It consists of a 60-m-deep vertical cave with two entrances separated by a rock bridge, hence its name “delle do boche”, meaning “with two mouths.” It extends for 14 m and features an initial 40-m-deep shaft that ends in a scree-covered floor. On the NE wall, a window opens into an 18-m-deep shaft, the bottom of which is obstructed. It was first mapped out by speleologists from Trieste from the C.G.E.B. - Società Alpina delle Giulie (Julie Alpine Society) in 1957. The local term “Sperlonga” means a “chasm”. At the base of the large pit, several specimens of Oryotus ravasinii have been collected, a cave-dwelling beetle belonging to the Cholevid family and exclusive to the cavities of the Belluno and Carnic Prealps, with the western limit being the locality of Praderadego and the eastern being that of the Cellina Valley. These insects live in “cold” caves and feed on debris carried in by the water.