Small-size karst landforms may potentially provide very useful information to fully understand the behavior of karst systems and their dynamics. “Inghiottitoio della Masseria Rotolo,” located in a remarkable karst area of southeastern Italy, was originally a very small swallow hole, able to collect huge amount of water during rainstorms. After works of excavations, and the later caving explorations, it has become the deepest cave in Apulia, reaching the water table at depth of −264 m, with further exploration underwater that brought the depth to 324 m below the ground surface, for a total development of the system greater than 1800 m. This cave is described in the context of the possibility to define underground geosites and to promote speleotourism, with the main goal to spread among the great public information about karst processes and landscape evolution in Apulia. At this aim, the main historical and morphological features of the area where the cave is located (the Canale di Pirro polje) are also described. The karst system of the “Inghiottitoio della Masseria Rotolo” is being studied through a scientific project funded by the regional authority, and a great number of data is being collected, which could be extremely useful to reconstruct the different phases of cave development and to put this cave within the overall context of karst evolution in this sector of central Apulia. Transferring the scientific outcomes to the high number of tourists and visitors would be essential to spreading the main information about karst and to improve the level of knowledge on this remarkable karst system.

中文翻译：

---

地下地质遗址和洞穴洞穴旅游：一些考虑因素，来自意大利南部的一个案例研究

小型喀斯特地貌可能会提供非常有用的信息，以充分了解喀斯特系统的行为及其动力学。“ Inghiottitoio della Masseria Rotolo”位于意大利东南部一个著名的喀斯特地区，原本是一个很小的燕子洞，在暴雨期间能够收集大量的水。经过开挖工作和后来的探空探索，它已成为普利亚州最深的洞穴，到达−264 m深度的地下水位，并在水下进行了进一步的勘探，使深度达到了地下324 m。系统开发超过1800 m。这个洞穴是在定义地下地理位置和促进洞穴旅游的背景下描述的，其主要目标是在有关普利亚岩溶过程和景观演变的重要公共信息中传播。为此，还描述了该洞穴所在地区（Canale di Pirro polje）的主要历史和形态特征。正在通过由地方政府资助的科学项目对“ Inghiottitoio della Masseria Rotolo”岩溶系统进行研究，并且正在收集大量数据，这对于重建洞穴发育的不同阶段以及将其放到地下将非常有用。这个洞穴位于普利亚中部这个地区岩溶演化的整体环境中。