Living Museum Mangiapane Cave

The Mangiapane Cave is the most famous of the Grotte Scurati (Scurati caves), inhabited by man since the Upper Palaeolithic, as suggested by the traces of human presence (flint tools, graffiti) that were found there dating back to this era. The Mangiapane cave (which houses a small village of houses inside) was inhabited until the early 1950s by the Mangiapane family and for this reason the organisation of the spaces and the articulation of the buildings has remained intact. Today they are part of an evocative journey of discovery of trades and traditions made possible thanks to the work of a local association of volunteers.

The Living Museum shows the ancient crafts through numerous objects and tools collected in the area which, located in an exceptional living context, come to life thanks to the perpetuation of memory within the community. In this place where time has stood still, the “Presepe vivente di Custonaci” (Living Crib of Custonaci) has been held at Christmas time since 1983. “La Natività e i Mestieri Tradizionali” (The Nativity and Traditional Trades) is a great cultural event in which the 19th-century rural and artisan traditions are set in the context of the nativity with 160 actors, and involving all the inhabitants of the village. A cultural event that in 2006 was recognized in the Registro Eredità Immateriali della Sicilia (Immaterial Heritage Register of Sicily).