by InTrieste
Near Trieste, a guided excursion this weekend will revisit a cave that once drew the attention of the 19th-century botanist and naturalist Carlo Marchesetti.
The walk, scheduled for Saturday, March 14, is the opening event of the 2026 Passeggiando si impara (“Learning While Walking”) program organized by the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Trieste. Participants will visit the Grotta dell’Orso, or Bear Cave, near the village of Gabrovizza in the municipality of Sgonico.
Marchesetti first noticed the cave during botanical excursions in the Karst while searching for Crocus biflorus. When he explored it in March 1884, he discovered fragments of prehistoric pottery and later unearthed a tooth and part of a jaw belonging to the extinct cave bear, Ursus spelaeus. The discovery led him to rename the site Bear Cave.
During the visit, images of artifacts recovered from Marchesetti’s excavations will be projected inside the cave’s central gallery. The finds include paleontological remains of animals from the Pleistocene and Holocene periods as well as numerous archaeological objects, particularly from the Neolithic era.
The excursion follows relatively easy trails through a stretch of the Karst landscape rich in both surface and underground geological formations. The walk will be led by Sergio Dolce, vice president of the Club Alpinistico Triestino and a former director of the Trieste Natural History Museum.
Participants are asked to meet at 2:45 p.m. in front of the Trattoria Sociale in Gabrovizza. The event is free but requires registration through a form available on the museum’s website. A flashlight — preferably a headlamp — and sturdy footwear are required for entering the cave.
