Description
The Speleovivarium is Trieste's small museum of speleology, set in a World War II air-raid tunnel in the San Vito district, at the foot of the stairway on Via Guido Reni. Inside, the microclimate is that of a real cave.
The star is the olm, the only European vertebrate that lives solely in the underground waters of the Karst, as far as Slovenia and the Bay of Kotor: here you can see live specimens. Around it are plants and animals of the Karst caves, fossils, minerals, cavers' equipment and documents on the city's underground.
The C-shaped tunnel is more than 400 meters long, but only the first stretch is open. Above ground you can spot a clue: the ventilation shaft capped by a concrete dome, in the garden of Piazza Carlo Alberto.
The museum was created precisely to breed the olm, threatened by pollution, and is run by the Società Adriatica di Speleologia.
The star is the olm, the only European vertebrate that lives solely in the underground waters of the Karst, as far as Slovenia and the Bay of Kotor: here you can see live specimens. Around it are plants and animals of the Karst caves, fossils, minerals, cavers' equipment and documents on the city's underground.
The C-shaped tunnel is more than 400 meters long, but only the first stretch is open. Above ground you can spot a clue: the ventilation shaft capped by a concrete dome, in the garden of Piazza Carlo Alberto.
The museum was created precisely to breed the olm, threatened by pollution, and is run by the Società Adriatica di Speleologia.