Cueva Negra (Black Cave)

Although the people of the town of Fortuna knew of the existence of this cave, they were not very familiar with its origins. Thus, a team of researchers led by Professor Antonino González Blanco went to investigate the Cueva Negra in 1981. They discovered that it had been used as a place of worship since the 1st century CE, although it could have been used even earlier.

The really important thing about the Cueva Negra is the discovery of more than a hundred inscriptions. These inscriptions are fragments in verse from the first book of ‘Aeneid’ by the Roman poet Virgil.

Four years later, on 12 September 1985, another group of researchers returned to investigate the cave and found up to three inscriptions more, all of them in a very bad state of preservation due to the humidity and smoke from the fires that shepherds had lit to take refuge.

These inscriptions constitute one of the few examples of minuscule writing known throughout the Empire. These texts were written by excellent connoisseurs of Virgil, endowed with great poetic talent.