Cavillon Cave at Grimaldi – Grimaldi, Italy - Atlas Obscura
✨ Online experience gift cards are here! Buy Now »
What's near me?

Cavillon Cave at Grimaldi

Grimaldi, Italy

A beautiful discovery site of prehistoric burials. 

View all photos
via Julia Augustus at the Balzi-Rossi caves in Grimaldi pfpuech (Atlas Obscura User)
via Julia Augustus at the Balzi-Rossi caves in Grimaldi pfpuech (Atlas Obscura User)
Cavillon cave in the Balzi-Rossi at Grimaldi near Monte-Carlo pfpuech (Atlas Obscura User)
Way to prehistoric archaeology in the Balzi-Rossi caves pfpuech (Atlas Obscura User)
Abri Mochi excavations in the Balzi-Rossi cliff pfpuech (Atlas Obscura User)
15
129
Top Places in Italy
This obelisk shaped bomb shelter once was inside a factory
War obelisk in Milan
Milan, Italy
Ettore Guatelli Museum
Gaiano, Italy
Vincent City
Lecce, Italy
 See All
This entry is a stub
Help improve Atlas Obscura by expanding Cavillon Cave at Grimaldi with additional information or photos.

The Cavillon cave of the Balzi Rossi is a charming place of rare beauty, and also a major prehistoric site in Europe; Cro-Magnon burials from 24,000 B.C.E. and female figurines known as “Venuses” were discovered here.

Located in Grimaldi, near Menton and Ventimiglia, the caves are found at the base of a cliff that faces the Roman old Via Iulia Augusta on the Mediterranean shore at French-Italian border.  The place and its museum is open to visitors.

Know Before You Go

Closed on Monday. The car park is located on the sea front in a very pleasant pine-wood. To reach the museum entrance, walk about 100 meters along the antic Via Iulia Augusta. You can enter the caves with the use of a path following a guide.

Atlas Obscura Trips

Rome Behind Locked Doors: Music, Magic, and Secret Crypts

Join us as we go beneath Rome’s streets and behind its locked doors to explore hidden and overlooked places, witnessing a capital city that most tourists rarely experience—strange, magical, and filled with intrigue.
Book Now
burial places caves ancient
Nearby
Hotel Angst
6.24 miles
Marcello Cammi's Sculpture Garden
6.25 miles
Dolceacqua's Ponte Vecchio
6.45 miles
Want to see fewer ads? Become a Member.
Near This Place
Bordighera, Italy

Hotel Angst

The top of society once luxuriated in this world-class hotel, which continues to impress, even in ruin.
Bordighera, Italy

Marcello Cammi's Sculpture Garden

A wood-and-steel sculpture garden featuring an artful interplay of nature and machinery.
Dolceacqua, Italy

Dolceacqua's Ponte Vecchio

Claude Monet immortalized this medieval bridge in two of his paintings.
Monaco-Ville, Monaco

Oceanographic Museum

Museum celebrating the ocean, with the largest wunderkammer dedicated to sea exploration.
Related Places
Tulsk, Ireland

Rathcroghan

This ancient Irish landscape boasts hundreds of legendary ruins.
Tambon Tham Lot, Thailand

Tham Lod Cave

A mile-long navigable cave adorned with stalactites and stalagmites reaching up to 65 feet tall.
Pechory, Russia

Pskov-Caves Monastery

This 15th-century cave complex is one of the very few monasteries to stay open throughout World War II and the Soviet regime.
Kiryat Tiv'on, Israel

Beit She'arim Necropolis

A sprawling ancient Jewish cemetery with over 30 rock-hewn burial caves.