The Grottoes of Maurizio

The woods around Gambassi Terme guard some evocative treasures, such as the unusually fascinating grottoes of thehermit Maurizio.

The history of the Grottoes of Maurizio begins in 1918 when Maurizio Becherini, barber and tailor of the town, known as the hermit, took shelter in the gorge of the Casciani torrent, and started building a small chapel over a rock, thus enhancing the whole environment around him, with Christian symbols, images made of clay, aedicules, and statues made of plaster, reinforced concrete and stone, connected to each other by simple ladders. Maurizio created all of this using small simple tools and what is left is by now an integral part of this enchanted place.

The Grottoes of Maurizio have become a pilgrimage destination for the residents of Gambassi Terme and the nearby places, eventually becoming in the last few years a hiking destination for tourists, especially in spring or summer as a very pleasant and cool place.