CATANZARO - Set in the Abisso del Bifurto, a cave of karst origin also known as "Fossa del Lupo", the film "Il Buco", by Michelangelo Frammartino, Special Prize of the Venice 78 jury. The film shot in those places by the director of Calabrian origins, it tells of the feat accomplished in 1961 by a group of speleologists who dropped to almost 700 meters underground where the then second largest cave in the world was discovered. Only two survivors, both over eighty, of that expedition Beppe De Matteis and Giulio Gècchele, 84, attended the screening of the film at the Lido which counted for 10 minutes of applause.
The abyss of Bifurto, in the territory of the municipality of Cerchiara di Calabria, is a very deep sinkhole that descends vertically for 683 meters, an example of karst activity on the slopes of the Pollino. It occupies the fortieth place in the ranking of the deepest caves in the world and is, according to speleologists, one of the most difficult caves in the whole of Southern Italy.