Date: 25-30.10. 2024

Team: Tomáš Dino Holer, Jan Machek, Karel Brychta, Antonín Fiala

I have been thinking for a long time about completing my photo collection of European cave salamander species. In 2023, we found all 5 island species in Sardinia, and even before that, in 2019, I observed salamanders of the genus Speleomantes in Germany. However, it was an introduced population and there were still two other species left in Italian Liguria and Tuscany. The best time to observe salamanders is undoubtedly autumn, so instead of the classic spring holidays, we finally chose autumn as the date of the expedition.

At the end of October, Italy is still quite warm, but it also rains quite often. So, to be on the safe side, we packed more clothes and even a spare pair of shoes. The flight tickets to Genoa seemed unnecessarily expensive to us, so we chose to fly to Milan and continue south from there with a rented car. We arrived at Milan Malpensa Airport, Terminal 2, a little before midnight and learned that the rental agencies are in Terminal 1 and close at midnight. So we had to take a shuttle bus to the other terminal and hoped that they wouldn’t close in front of us even though we had a reservation. Fortunately, they were already waiting for us at the Maggiore car rental and had the keys to the Volkswagen T-Roc ready for us. So everything went smoothly and we were able to move to the Airhotel Malpensa, where we spent the night.

In the morning we had a good breakfast, which was included in the accommodation price, and set off towards Genoa. Our first stop was the location of the Strinati´s cave salamanders. As soon as we parked, it started to rain heavily, so we waited in the car for a while. When the rain stopped a bit, we set out to find the cave. Using the GPS, it wasn’t too difficult. However, the entrance was located on the bank of a slightly flooded river and we had a hard time finding a dry path over the rocks to the other side. Then it started to rain again, and we were glad that we hadn’t underestimated the weather and had taken enough spare clothes with us. Long poles helped us cross the river, and soon we found ourselves in the tunnel of the cave.

It was more of a tunnel, judging by its regular shapes and signs of stone working. Right after the first corner, the first Strinati´s cave salamander (Speleomantes strinatii) was waiting for us on the wall. I immediately started filming and photographing, and my colleagues had soon discovered three females with eggs and several other individuals. In addition to the salamanders, Tonda also found an Italian stream frog (Rana italica) and a larvae of the fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra). On the way back to the car, we met several other cave salamanders on the stones around the road and also one Spectacled salamander (Salamandrina perspicillata). Wet, dirty but satisfied, we returned to the car and continued our journey southeast, to the city of La Spezia.

We stayed in the Casa Vacanze Lillo apartment, owned by an Italian-Moldovan family. I had to brush up on my Russian and use Google Translate here and there, but in the end we agreed on everything. We explained to the hostess that we really didn’t want to share not only a common bed, but also only one blanket. But she very willingly divided the beds for us and made separate beds for each of us. The accommodation was spacious and comfortable, so we decided to spend another 2 nights there. We checked off the first species of salamander on the very first day, so we could go to a pizzeria in a nearby town with peace of mind in the evening.

In the morning we had a leisurely breakfast and planned our daily program. We decided to start from the southernmost selected location, where the Italian cave salamander (Speleomantes italicus) should live. Our journey unexpectedly took about half an hour longer, because we found out that the highway gate at this location is only for owners of electronic “highway vignettes” and we had to use a more distant gate, where you can take a ticket and pay at the exit. The cave was apparently located above a historic town on the slope of high hills. So we had to drive the serpentines and more than narrow Italian streets. In the end, the journey went without any scratches on the car, mainly thanks to Honza’s driving skills. We parked at the beginning of the hiking trail and headed up. Italian hiking signs are not as well and clearly placed as ours (Czech) and, moreover, at intersections they lead in more directions. We got a bit lost in the alleys but eventually we climbed a very neglected and steep path to the cave, only to find out that there was a beautiful asphalt road leading to it. Well, at least we made some effort. Around the road on the rocks, there were wall lizards (Podarcis muralis), probably the subspecies nigriventris.

The cave was located right next to the road. The entrance was located at the bottom of a 15m deep pit with steep walls. The recent rains had created a slide of mud and leaves on the most passable side. The first half of the descent was quite easy along a narrow path. But then there was a thick layer of leaves, mud and very steep terrain. We considered for a while whether to risk the journey down or not. In the end, I decided that since we were already here, I would go in. But I took off my backpack for the descent, which weighs about 12 kg with all the equipment. I used a long pole to push away the leaves a little and tried to find where there was only mud and where there was solid rock to lean on. Fortunately, the rock on the side was solid and the many cracks and pockets made it possible to grab onto it and slowly climb down to the mouth of the cave. Honza then lower my backpack with the equipment down on a “rope” made of plastic fence, which someone had tied to a tree before us. However, some parts of the plastic fibers were already very torn and I would have preferred not to hang myself on it. However, the backpack made it through the journey unscathed. At the entrance of the cave was a pile of junk that someone had thrown there. And so the first Italian cave salamander was looking at me from a discarded tire. In total, I found about 8 individuals down there, including three-centimeter long youngs. The way up was a little easier, I knew where to step and what to grab onto. On the way back to the car, we also met several Italian wall lizards (Podarcis siculus).

It was only afternoon, so we stopped for refreshments at the supermarket and headed back north to the next cave. We arrived after dark. The salamanders were clearly waiting for the delegation from the Czech Republic, and the first Ambrosi´s cave salamander (Speleomantes ambrosii) was waiting for us right by the road on a stone wall near our parked car. While I was taking pictures of him, a local fool came up to us. With his hands, feet, and imitating a pig’s grunt, he tried to signal us something and looked scared when we showed him that we were going to the cave to take pictures of the salamanders. We will never know what he actually wanted to tell us, but later he called his mother on the phone and after our question: “Grotta entrate possible?” she told us: “Si, si, nessun problema!” So we left him to his fate and headed to the cave.

The cave was very spacious and led somewhere unknown deep into the depths. However, we found several more salamanders right at the entrance. There was enough time so we went to another cave that was nearby. On the way, we met several more cave salamanders right by the road and also two common toads (Bufo bufo). A ghostly mist hung in front of the cave. The salamanders were crawling everywhere, at the entrance of the cave and deeper inside. We tried to look for fire salamanders in the vicinity, but for some reason they were not active. We only met a few young Italian stream frogs (Rana italica).

The next morning we set off for the mountainous area north-east of the town of Sarzana. The last of our expedition’s main targets lives here – a subspecies of the Ambrosi’s cave salamander – Speleomantes ambrosii bianchii. We had to drive down a very steep and well-worn road in a rented car, which unfortunately did not have four-wheel drive. At that moment it was clear to us that we would probably not be able to climb back the same way. Karel spotted a green whip snake (Hierophis viridiflavus) from the window. Unfortunately, it was too fast and we did not have time to photograph it. Finding the cave was also no easy task. It was located on a hill above the road where we had to literally climb over slippery leaves. Finally, we managed to find a small entrance and right at its mouth a young salamander with white spots on its sides and a golden tail. It was probably the most beautiful cave we have been to on this expedition, but none of them can compare to the ones in Sardinia. The cave had beautiful karst formations and around the corner it continued through a narrow tunnel to a room full of stalactites, but we didn’t want to crawl through a very narrow opening. In total, we found about 6 salamanders here. So we had our goal, but we could only relax when we found an alternative road back with the car, which was longer but fortunately not as steep.

We had a one spare day left, so in the morning we went to the caves where we had previously found Ambrosi’s cave salamanders. Previously, we had only reached them in the dark, so now we had the opportunity to see them durring day. In one of them, we found 5 young salamanders climbing high on the ceiling of the cave, as well as several adults hiding in a rock pocket at the entrance of the cave. I wanted to go deeper into the bowels of the cave, but the collapsed stone blocks all around finally discouraged me. The cave is apparently not completely stable, and right now, after heavy rains, it would probably not be a good idea to climb go deep.

It was time to head back north and get a little closer to the airport. On the way, we stopped at another location of Strinati´s cave salamanders (Speleomantes strinatii), where we couldn’t find the entrance to the cave. Since the coordinates were always accurate, the entrance to the cave was probably blocked. In the end, however, Tonda managed to find one newt right next to our parked car in a small depression in the rock.

In the evening we stopped at a somewhat famous historical defense tower, where one of the few mainland populations of European leaf-toed geckos (Euleptes europaea) is supposed to be located. We searched for about 2 hours but there was a strong wind. We found only a few young Turkish geckos (Hemidactylus turcicus) and more numerous moorish geckos (Tarentola mauritanica). In addition to the geckos, we also saw three common toads (Bufo bufo) and one western tree frog (Hyla meridionalis).

We spent our last night in a terrible hotel near Milan Malpensa airport. The room had moldy walls in some places and we all slept in one small room. However, it was our last night so we decided to make do with it and not spoil the end of a successful expedition.

List of species

Total – 15 taxa:

Ambphibians (9 species):

Frogs (3 species):

Hyla meridionalis

Rana italica

Bufo bufo

Salamanders (6 taxa):

Salamandra salamandra – larvae

Speleomantes ambrosii ambrosii

Speleomantes ambrosii bianchii

Speleomantes strinatii

Speleomantes italicus

Salamandrina perspicillata

Reptiles (6 species):

Lizards (4 species):

Podarcis muralis cf. nigriventris

Podarcis siculus

Tarentola mauritanica

Hemidactylus turcicus

Snakes (2 species):

Natrix helvetica – dead on road

Hierophis viridiflavus