page_title: Valerio Ricetti
section_title: Creating a Utopia in a cave
hierarchical_section_title: Valerio Ricetti / Biography / Creating a Utopia in a cave
caption_attribution_description: Hermit's Cave Complex
context_page_description: Valerio Ricetti was an Italian-Australian hermit who lived mainly in a cave in the Griffith area for a period of 23 years. Working only at night and in the early morning hours so that he would not be seen, he turned the cave into his own private "utopia" complete with kitchen, chapel, landscaping, pathways, stone walls, stone stairs, paths, terraced gardens and cisterns for water supply.
context_section_description: Deciding to stay on the hill and unaware that his old Italian colleagues, Ceccato and Bicego, had settled down nearby, Ricetti believed himself to be the only Italian in the area and so he kept entirely to himself, living in the cave as a home.  His need for reclusiveness saw him keep a couple of places to hide in the event of people coming by and for one of these he built a stone walled circular cave around a large tree that had a peephole in it.  This hideout was set amongst shrubs so that he could hide without being spotted but keep watch until the people had left.
  His industrious nature assisted by his background in dry stone walling saw him clear the site and create massive stone galleries, pathways, cliff side gardens, and floral painted rock walls. By hand Ricetti moved hundreds of tons of rock over a number of years without anyone in the area ever becoming aware of his presence.  During this time he lived off the land - no doubt by scavenging from the tip, as well as the vegetable and fruit gardens nearby.
  In 1935, after he had been in the location for six years Ricetti had a fall breaking a leg and badly bruising his ribs. Luckily he was found by a passing swagman who notified an ambulance, and he was taken to the nearby Griffith hospital and treated by Dr E W Burrell.
  It was this accident and the requirement to provide an address to the authorities that moved him from a state of reclusive obscurity to that of instant celebrity partly because of his hermit nature but particularly when the sheer size of his work at the cave was discovered.
  Following his recuperation in hospital, he returned to his cave and Ricetti, without any money but anxious to pay Dr Burrell for his services sneaked into town at night and worked secretly in the Doctor's garden. Dr Burrell caught him after a few visits and informed Ricetti that he was Government Medical Officer and that payment was not required. Even so, the two became good friends with the doctor visiting him at his cave home regularly bringing gifts of things such as shoes and clothes.
  Two years later, Ricetti learned through the visit of a Mr Agostini (another Italian in the community) that his old friends Ceccato and Bicego were in that same town and their friendship was renewed. They would pick him up on weekends to meet other people and while Ricetti became more sociable and they attempted to coax him from his reclusiveness he continued to live in his cave.
caption: Hermit Cave complex in 1936
exif: {}