Walking in Sicily. Gillian Price

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      Francavilla’s ruined castle and views to the coast

      The walk entails a straightforward if steep climb to the castle lookout, followed by a pleasant stretch through citrus orchards along the renowned river. Most of the route corresponds to the Alcantara Park nature trail ‘le Gurne’ with info boards.

      The Walk

      From the Municipio at Francavilla (320m) turn southeast along an old basalt-paved road through the old part of town. Many houses still sport elaborately decorated stone balconies and hefty carved portals. Past the Chiesa del Carmine keep straight on Via Ruffo, in ascent. At lovely Villa Luisa Maria, its garden shaded by swaying Canary palm trees, fork left to reach the squat belltower and church in Piazza Matrice.

      The lane above the fountain leads past a sign for the 16th-century castle (ruderi castello mediovale), and to a concrete ramp uphill. A path takes over, climbing steadily south past derelict sheds. Overgrown at times, it leads onto open hillsides thick with stunning spring orchids. A ridge is soon gained, where inspiring views range from the Peloritani mountains west, with the highest peak Montagna Grande, and all the way down the Alcantara River valley past the precarious village of Motta Camastra to the Ionian Sea. Moreover close at hand are the castle ruins (50min, 450m), beyond which stands the photogenic town of Castiglione di Sicilia backed by the almost ghostly presence of Etna. It is possible to clamber up a narrow path amongst the crumbling walls on the narrow ridge, but take special care as it is a little exposed and can be slippery.

      Return the same way to Piazza Matrice (20min). Turn left down the narrow street lined with tiny stone dwellings to Piazza San Francesco, site of a museum. Continue in the same direction on Via S. Francesco which soon becomes an unsurfaced lane. This passes an archaeological site under plastic roofing where evidence of a 4th-century BC settlement of exiles from Naxos has been discovered. Take the next lane left for the descent towards the river. Through scented orange groves you curve beneath the castle. Soon after a prominent oak tree, turn right on a path lined by a high stone wall. Not far along are stone steps that drop to the peaceful banks of the Alcantara River at an iron footbridge (30min, 300m), property of the Electricity Commission ENEL. This is a good spot for a picnic with the shade of oleander trees, and allows you to admire the smooth black rock flanks, and even a kingfisher or harmless black snake. Note the curious system of irrigation channels that branch off at the nearby cascades; they date back hundreds of years to the Arabic period and, still referred to in local dialect as saja, the original term, they convey precious water to the thirsty citrus orchards. Long stretches are hewn into the volcanic rock face.

      Return to the upper lane and turn right (east). A major irrigation channel is soon crossed, followed by a drop beneath a curious overhang of smooth lava overlaying jagged strata. Remnants of an ancient bridge are visible on the opposite riverbank, while close at hand an old mill stands well below the castle. Here fork left as per the nature trail, in gentle ascent along the flanks of the hill, thick with orchids in springtime. A picnic area is a good spot to enjoy the lovely views, before you enter the town again and shortly reach Piazza Matrice. Walk back along Via Ruffo to the Municipio of Francavilla. Accommodation Hotel L’Orange Tel 0942-981374 B&B Quattareddu Tel 0942-982693 or 333-2972877

      The Alcantara River below Francavilla

      MONTE ETNA

      ‘When I look at her, low, white, witch-like under heaven, slowly rolling her orange smoke and giving sometimes a breath of rose-red flame, then I must look away from earth, into the ether, into the low empyrean. And there, in that remote region, Etna is alone.’

      D.H. Lawrence, Sea and Sardinia

      The fire-breathing giant and its devastating eruptions have left deep inspirational impressions on Mediterranean cultures all through the ages. Early conjecture by the Greeks explained its activity as banished giants working underworld forges, along with the grisly monster Typhon, imprisoned there by Zeus, who made the earth tremble with his twisting and turning. The fitting name of ‘Etna’ derives from a Greek word meaning ‘to burn’, though the Arabs preferred to refer to it as Jebel Utlamat, ‘mountain par excellence’, whence derives its modern-day Latinised alias, Mongibello. However for the Sicilians it is simply a’ muntagna (‘the mountain’), and strictly feminine.

      Shepherds’ hut backed by Etna’s central craters (Walk 6)

      Sicily’s massive landmark volcano began life thanks to submarine activity in a long-gone gulf in eastern Sicily over half a million years ago, and appears to rise directly from the Ionian Sea. It needed Scottish geologist Charles Lyell in 1858 to demonstrate that it was the outcome of small-scale recurrent eruptions instead of a single cataclysm, the prevalent theory of the time.

      With its 3300m in altitude, Monte Etna is Europe’s highest active volcano, dominating the whole of Sicily. The volcano covers an area of 1600 sq km, has a diameter of 44km and a base circumference of some 160. The height of the upper crater is currently around 3340m, though this varies considerably with lava build-up. Views from the summit can range as far as 240km.

      At present four craters are active on the summit: the North East, the Bocca Nuova (new mouth), the South East and the Voragine (chasm); while around 320 secondary or adventive cones dot the slopes, witnesses to recurrent decentralised activity.

      The first recorded eruption, and possibly the most violent, occurred in 475 BC, though a subsequent episode in 396 BC was evidently of mammoth proportions as it obstructed the progress of the Carthaginian army. Over 250 more have since followed, often catastrophic events such as in 1669 when 15 villages were obliterated and Catania was inundated by lava, which reached the sea and resulted in a 2km СКАЧАТЬ