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Miesole Pit in Configni: the secret cave of Monte Cosce waiting to be explored
Pozzo di Miesole (Miesole Pit) — or "Puzzu 'e Miesu," as they call it in Configni — is a karst cavity hidden among the beech trees of Monte Cosce, in the Sabina area near Rieti, on the border between Lazio and Umbria. A place well known to speleologists, but still off the radar for most people.
A chasm in the beech forest
The entrance opens along the gully that descends through the beech forest above the village of Configni. From outside it doesn't look like much, but the shaft measures 15 × 7m and drops by about 50m. At -20m it splits into two parallel shafts that open up into a huge underground chamber — 60m long, 40m wide, 15m high.
From 1954 to the present day: ongoing exploration
The Circolo Speleologico Romano was the first group to descend in 1954. For decades the cave saw few visitors. In 2008, the Gruppo Speleologico Sabino from Magliano Sabina dug through the mud on the chamber floor and discovered new rooms with stalactites and stalagmites, along with a narrow passage leading to even larger halls. At the base of one branch, the skull of an Apennine roe deer turned up. How it got there remains a mystery.
How to get there and what to know
It can be reached from the centre of Configni: about 300m from the main square, a paved road branches off to the right and climbs toward the mountain.
