The Grotta Mangiapane is an enormous cave in the rock above Custonaci, in the north-west of Sicily, inside which a real village stood — houses, a chapel, stables — occupied by one extended family until around 1950 and abandoned intact. Since 1983 it has been used at Christmas for a living nativity in which villagers work the old trades in the actual buildings.
The effect is unlike a staged nativity because the setting is not staged: the stone houses under the cave roof are the originals.
No attendance figure is recorded here in this pass.
It runs on selected days between late December and early January. Custonaci is near Erice and San Vito Lo Capo, about forty minutes from Trapani, and the cave is reached by a short road off the coast — parking is organised and limited on the open days.
PlanningA short window around Christmas and Epiphany, on selected days only.