Walking in Sicily
£12.00
70 long and short walks, 8 car tours
by Peter Amann
A guidebook to walking on the Italian island of Sicily, featuring 70 of the best long and short day walks.
We cover the entire island, except for the far southwest corner, showing trekking routes of varying difficulty, all of which are mapped in detail.
Many of the hikes are circular, taking in walks around Mount Etna, through subtropical vegetation, past active volcanoes and along some still-tranquil stretches of coast.
This guide also includes eight car tours, two touring maps (covering all but the far southwestern corner of the island) and free downloadable GPS tracks.
When to go: The best months for walking in Sicily are March to June and September to November.
★★★★★ amazon review ‘We used this book on holiday in Sicily last year …very clear, easy walks. Good to use a book like this as it takes some of the effort out of finding nice spots and you keep fit climbing a bit of mount Etna. Would recommend Sunflower books for European holidays!‘ Rachel Marshall
Printed book: £14.99 / PDF ebook: £12.00
This new 6th edition of our guidebook to walking in Sicily is completely overhauled and one of the first books in the new Sunflower wider livery.
We hope that the new generation of guides will be easier to use – with larger type and no mapping lost in the gutter.
This guide, revised on the ground not long before publication, also has completely new maps. Based on OpenStreetMap mapping, they now show waypoints, and free downloadable GPS tracks are available for all the hikes.
Colour coding on the Contents page enables you to see at a glance the grading of various treks.
Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean and long a Mecca for culture freaks, also rewards the countryside lover with its magnificent landscapes.
Peter Amann knows the island intimately; he leads walking groups on Sicily and works for the preservation of its monuments. There is enough material in this book for several holidays.
For those touring Sicily by car, the eight car tours (mostly circular and covering 2000 km) follow little-used secondary roads wherever possible.
If you’re walking in Sicily, the routes are as varied in length and grade as the landscape itself — a distillation of the best on the island.
No holiday would be complete without one of these guides. In fact it has got to the point of seeing what destinations are covered and planning our next trip accordingly. Very much more than just a walk book. Sicily is a stunner scenically. (AL, Amazon)
Good old Sunflowers, those thin blue books that walkers on the Continent trust like seasoned friends from Sicily to the Azores — they never fail to find you a really good walk. (Christopher Somerville, Weekend Telegraph)
I purchased this guide having previously used the excellent Sunflower series on walking holidays in Corsica, Picos de Europa and the Azores. The format is excellent: a pocket size book with small maps embedded in each walk’s description, and a larger pull-out map at the back showing the location of the walk. Highly recommended. (RS, Amazon)
The book assumes that most users will be touring Sicily by car. The author suggests hotels or hostels (at least one for every walk, with telephone numbers. However, if you do not want to explore the entire island, you can access several walks from the spectacular resort of Taormina: one is adjacent to the town, two others are within 10km, and there are eight in the Etna area (some 15 to 20km away).
8 car tours, 70 long and short walks, 27 picnic suggestions
176 pages • 2 touring maps (covering all but the far southwestern corner of the island), newly-drawn 1:50,000 topo maps; free downloadable GPS tracks for all the walks
6th ed, March 2019; ISBN 978-1-85691-521-2; UK retail price £14.99 / USA retail price $20.00
Table of contents:
Preface 5
Recommended books; Acknowledgements 7
Getting about 9
Picnicking 9
TOURING 17
AROUND MOUNT ETNA (TOUR 1) 18
Catania (centre) · Nicolosi · Rifugio Sapienza · Piano Provenzana · Bronte · Adrano · Catania (ring road)
TAORMINA, THE PELORITANI MOUNTAINS AND THE AEOLIAN ISLANDS (TOUR 2) 22
Taormina · (Forza d’Agrò · Alì) · Messina · Milazzo · (Lipari · Vulcano) · Milazzo · Novara di Sicilia · Castiglione di Sicilia · Linguaglossa · Fiumefreddo · Taormina
THE NEBRODI MOUNTAINS (TOUR 3) 25
San Fratello · Portella Femmina Morta · Cesarò · Castello Maniace · Randazzo · Floresta · Galati Mamertino · Alcara li Fusi · Sant’Agata di Militello
CEFALÙ AND THE MADONIE MOUNTAINS (TOUR 4) 28
Cefalù · Gibilmanna · Castelbuono · Geraci Siculo · Gangi · Petralia Soprana · Petralia Sottana · Polizzi Generosa · Piano Battaglia · Isnello · Cefalù
PALERMO AND THE WEST (TOUR 5) 31
Palermo · Monreale · Segesta · Scopello · Erice · Trapani · Marsala · Selinunte · S. Giuseppe Iato · Palermo
BETWEEN PALERMO AND AGRIGENTO (TOUR 6) 36
Palermo · Piana degli Albanesi · Ficuzza · Corleone · Prizzi · Palazzo Adriano · Caltabelotta · Sciacca · Eraclea Minoa · Agrigento · Sant’Angelo Muxaro · Cammarata · Caccamo · Solunto · Palermo
CENTRAL SICILY (TOUR 7) 42
Agrigento · Caltanissetta · Enna · Aidone · Morgantina · Piazza Armerina · Villa del Casale · S. Michele di Ganzaria · Caltagirone · Ragusa
SOUTHEASTERN SICILY AND THE MONTI IBLEI (TOUR 8) 44
Syracuse · Penisola della Maddalena · Noto · Portopalo di Capo Passero · Ispica · Modica · Scicli · Donnafugata · Ragusa · Vizzini · Palazzolo Acreide · Pantalica · Syracuse
WALKING 51
Grading, waymarking, maps, GPS 51
Weather 53
Safety and equipment 53
Snakes, dogs and ticks 54
Where to stay 55
Organisation of the walks 55
A country code 56
Glossary 57
Useful addresses 58
THE WALKS
AROUND MOUNT ETNA
1 Monti Rossi 60
2 Schiena dell’Asino and the Valle del Bove 62
3 Monte Fontana and the Valle del Bove 66
4 Monti Sartorius 68
5 Serra delle Concazze and the Pizzi Deneri 70
6 Monte Nero and the Grotta del Gelo 73
7 Monte Spagnolo and the Cisternazza 77
8 Monte Ruvolo, Monti Tre Frati and Monte Minardo 80
TAORMINA, THE PELORITANI MOUNTAINS AND THE AEOLIAN ISLANDS
9 Monte Venere 83
10 Forza d’Agrò 85
11 Monte Scuderi 87
12 The Gran Cratere on Vulcano 89
13 Western Lipari 90
14 Rocca Novara 93
THE NEBRODI MOUNTAINS
15 Monte Soro and Lago Biviere 95
16 Cascata del Catafurco 98
17 Bosco di Mangalaviti and Lago Biviere 100
18 Rocche del Crasto 103
CEFALÙ AND THE MADONIE MOUNTAINS
19 The castle rock of Cefalù 105
20 Giant hollies on the Piano Pomo 108
21 Vallone Madonna degli Angeli 110
22 Pizzo Carbonara 113
23 Gangivecchio and Monte Zimmara 116
PALERMO AND THE WEST
24 Monte Pellegrino, Palermo’s holy mountain 118
25 The Castellaccio on Pizzo del Corvo 121
26 Monte Còfano 122
27 The Zingaro Nature Reserve 125
28 Stone Age paintings on Levanzo 128
BETWEEN PALERMO AND AGRIGENTO
29 Portella della Ginestra and Serre della Pizzuta 131
30 Valle del Fanuso and Cozzo Fanuso 134
31 Rocca Busambra and the Bosco della Ficuzza 137
32 Monti di Palazzo Adriano 116
33 Torre Salsa and Eraclea Minoa 142
34 Sant’Angelo Muxaro and Monte Castello 145
35 Caccamo and Monte S. Calogero 122
SOUTHEASTERN SICILY AND THE MONTI IBLEI
36 Papyrus along the Ciane 150
37 Noto Antica and the Cava del Carosello 151
38 The Vendicari nature reserve 154
39 Scicli and the Colle di San Matteo 157
40 Ragusa Ibla and the Cava della Misericordia 158
41 Pantalica 161
Index 165
Fold-out touring map inside back cover
Acqua della Rocca (spring) 9
Adrano 16, 18
Aeolian Islands 19, 20
Agrigento 32, 34, 36, 37
Concordia Temple 34, 36
Hera Temple 10, 34
Aidone 37, 38
Albergo Le Betulle 61
Alcamo 29
Alcantara (gorge and valley 10, 21, 23
Alcara li Fusi 22, 24, 86
Alessandria della Rocca 35
Alì 19, 20
Alì Terme 20
Altofonte 32
Anaktoron 14, 44, 132, 133, 134
Anapo (river and valley) 132, 133, 134
Antica Iato 110-111, 111
Aragona 34
Avola 40
Avola Antica 40
Bagheria 36
Bivio (road junction)
Fondacheli 21
Gigliotti 38
Ramata 38
Bivona 35
Boccadifalco 28
Bonagia, Tonnara di 30
Bosco (wood)
Cerrita 18
della Ficuzza 112-113, 114
di Centorbi 68
di Mangalaviti 84-85
Bronte 16, 18, 66
Buccheri 43
Caccamo 32, 36, 122
Cala Dogana (Levanzo) 108, 109
Calamosche 127, 128
Caltabelotta 13, 32, 33
Caltagirone 37, 38
Caltanissetta 37
Cammarata 32, 35
Campobello di Mazara 30
Capo Bianco 13, 33, 118-119, 119
Capo Murro di Porco 40
Capo S. Alessio 19
Casalvecchio Siculo 20
Cascata del Catafurco 82, 83
Casermetta (forestry house) 62-63, 65, 66, 68
Castelbuono 25, 26, 97
Casteldaccia 36
Castelmola 69, 70
Castellamare del Golfo 29
Castellana Sicula 27
Castello degli Schiavi 21
Castello Eurialo 44
Castelvetrano 31
Castiglione di Sicilia 19, 21
Castroreale Terme 20
Catania 16, 18
Cava della Misericordia 130, 131
Cava Grande del Cassibile 40
Cave di Cusa 10, 12, 30
Cefalù 11, 25, 27, 88, 89, 90, 90
Rocca di 88, 89, 90, 90
Tempio di Diana 11, 89, 90
Cervi Mountains 94-5
Cesarò 11, 22
Christo Signor della Montagna 11
Chiaramonte Gulfi 43
Ciane (river) 12-13, 14, 124
Colle di S. Matteo 129, 129
Conca d’Oro 49
Corleone 32, 33
Cozzo Tondo 112-113
Crateri Silvestri 16
Cuba di S. Domenica 10
Donnafugata 39, 42
Egadi Islands 30
Eloro 127
Enna 13, 37
Enna Bassa 37
Eraclea Minoa 13, 32, 33, 118-119
Eremo della Quisquina (chapel) 35
Erice 28, 30
Faraglioni Islands 109
Ferla 44
Ficuzza 13, 32, 33, 112-113
Fiumefreddo di Sicilia 19, 21
Floresta 22, 24
Fontane Bianche 40
Fornazzo 17
Forza d’Agrò 2, 19, 71, 72
Galati Mamertino 22, 24, 83
Gangi 25, 26
Gangivecchio 98, 99
Geraci Siculo 25, 26 97
Giardini-Naxos 21
Giarratana 43
Gibellina Nuova 31
Ruderi (ruins) di 31
Gravina 16
Grotta del Gelo 61, 62-63
Grotta di Mangiapane 30
Iblei Mountains 40
Isnello 25, 27
Ispica 39, 42
Cava d’Ispica 14, 42
Lago Biviere 79, 80-81, 84-85
Larderia Necropoli 14
Levanzo (island) 108, 109, 109
Linguaglossa 19, 21
Lipari (island) 19, 21, 76, 77
Madonie Mountains 25, 96-7
Maniace 22
Castello Nelson 11, 22, 23
Marausa 30
Marina di Cottone 10, 21
Marinella di Selinunte 31
Marsala 28, 30
Marzamemi 41
Mascalucia 16
Messina 19, 20
Strait of 72
Milazzo 19, 20
Militello Rosmarino 24
Milo 17
Misterbianco 18
Modica 39, 42, 43
Monreale 12, 28, 29, 31, 102
Monte (mountain)
Alveria 40
Cammarata 35
Castello 120, 121, 121
Citadella 14
Erice 15
Etna 1, 16, 17, 19, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 58-59, 60, 61, 62-63, 64, 65, 70
Bocca Nuova 52, 53, 58-59, 60
Cisternazza (cistern) 62-3, 64, 65
Iato 110-11, 111
Lepre 66-7
Minardo 66, 68
Pellegrino 49, 100, 101
Pispisa 104
Pomiciaro 17
Ruvolo 66-7, 68
S. Calogero 122, 123
S. Salvatore 92-93, 94
Scuderi 72, 73, 74
Soro 79, 80-81
Spagnolo 62-63, 64, 65
Tre Frati 66, 68
Venere 69, 70
Zimmara 99
Monteallegro 33
Monterosso Almo 43
Monti (pl. of Monte)
Rossi 9, 16, 51, 51
Sartorius 56, 58-59
Silvestri Superiore 53
Morgantina 11, 14, 37, 38
Scavi di 14, 38
Mozia (island) 12, 13
Imbarcadero di Mozia 15, 30
Naxos, Bay of 70
Nebrodi Mountains 22
Necropoli di Filiporto 133, 134
Nicolosi 9, 16, 51
Noto 39, 40
Noto Antica 14, 39, 40, 125, 126
Novara di Sicilia 19, 21
Oliveri 20
Pachino 41
Palazzo Adriano 32, 33, 116, 117
Palazzolo Acreide 39, 43
Palermo 12, 28, 31, 32, 36, 49, 99, 100
Pantalica 14, 39, 44, 132, 134
Parco (park)
dei Nebrodi 22
dello Zingaro 12, 29, 105, 106, 107
Forza 14, 41
Regionale delle Madonie 25, 96-97
Partinico 29
Paternò 18
Peloritani Mountains 19, 20
Penisola della Maddalena 39
Pergusa 37
Petralia Soprana 11, 25, 26
Petralia Sottana 25, 27
Pian del Vescovo 9, 16
Piana degli Albanesi 32
Piano Battaglia 25, 27, 92-93, 96-7
Piano Provenzana 16, 18, 61
Piano Pomo 91, 92-93, 93
Piano Sempria 26, 91, 92-93
Pianoconte (Lipari) 76, 77
Piazza Armerina 37, 38
Piedimonte Etneo 21
Pietracannone 9, 17, 54, 55, 58-59
Pioppo 29
Pizzi (pl. of Pizzo)
Deneri 57, 58-59
Pizzo (peak)
Carbonara 92-93, 96
del Corvo 11, 12, 28, 102, 102, 105
Polizzi Generosa 25, 27
Portella (pass)
Femmina Morta 10, 22, 79, 80-81
Gazzana 24, 84-85, 87, 88
Mandrazzi 21
Scafi 84-85
Spiria 73, 74
Porticello 36
Porto di Levante (Vulcano) 75
Porto Empedocle 33
Portopalo di Capo Passero 39, 41
Prizzi 32, 33
Quattropani 21, 76, 77
Ragusa 37, 38, 39, 42, 130-1, 131
Ragusa Ibla 14, 43, 130-1, 131
Giardino Ibleo 11, 14
Randazzo 22, 23
Rifugio (inn, refuge, hut)
Alpe Cucco 33, 112-113, 114, 115
Citelli 18, 56, 57, 58-59, 60
Saletti 62-63, 64, 65
Sapienza 16, 52, 58-59
Rocca (rock)
Busambra 112-113, 114, 115
di Cerere 13
Novara 10, 20, 21, 78
Roccapalumba 35
Rocche del Crasto 84-85, 86, 87
S. Agata di Militello 22, 24
S. Alfio 17
S. Angelo Muxaro 32, 35, 120, 121, 121
S. Basilio 82
S. Biagio Platani 35
S. Cipirello 31, 110, 111
S. Fratello 22
S. Giuseppe Iato 28, 31, 111
S. Martino delle Scale 11, 12
S. Michele di Ganzaria 37, 38
S. Stefano Quisquina 35
S. Vito lo Capo 29
Sacova 20
Santuario Maria SS di Gibilmanna 11, 25
Sciacca 32, 33
Scicli 39, 42, 129, 129
Scopello 8, 28, 29, 105
Segesta 28, 29, 102, 103, 104
Selinunte 28, 31, cover
Siculiana 33, 34
Siracusa 39, 44, 124
Scifì 20
Solazzo 10, 79, 80-81
Solunto 32, 36
Sortino 44
Sosio (river and valley) 116, 117
Strada Mareneve (road) 17,
Syracuse: see Siracusa
Taormina 19, 21, 69, 70
Terme Segestane 29
Termini Imerese 36
Tonnara di Scopello 8
Torre (tower)
del Filosofo 52, 58-59
Salsa 118-119
Tortorici 24
Trabia 36
Trapani 15, 28, 30
Tyndaris 20
Valderice 30
Valle (valley)
del Bove 52, 53, 54, 58-59
del Fanuso 112-113, 113
Vallone (small valley)
del Vescovo 9, 16
Madonna degli Angeli 92-93, 94-5
Vendicari Nature Reserve 41, 127, 128
Villa del Casale (Villa Romana) 37, 38
Vizzini 39, 43, 44
Vulcano (island) 19, 74, 74
Zafferana Etnea 17
Sicily, 6th edition 2019; updated 16/9/2019
Updates for walks and car tours (drives) on Sicily given below supplement those provided in the guidebook. It is vital that this Update is read in conjunction with the text of the book, but note that the Update applies only to the edition stated and not to any earlier editions. (If you have the third or an older edition of this book you can “upgrade” to the latest edition at half price.)
Information has been forwarded to us by users of the book, and Sunflower Books offers the data in good faith but cannot be held responsible for any misleading or inaccurate content in the Update. Unless indicated otherwise, what appears here has not been verified by the author or publisher, so please allow due caution when new or amended routes are suggested. Each piece of information is dated; bear in mind that some of the older observations may have since been overtaken by events or further changes. If, during your holiday, you are using the current edition of the guide and are able to provide any additional updating to add to this page, we will be pleased to hear from you. Please send information, preferably by e-mail, to info@sunflowerbooks.co.uk.
Walk 27: The path which links point 5 to point 6 (past Grotta Masso Peppe Siiino is closed because it is deemed too dangerous… You could mention the northern entrance which increases the shorter walks options. We walked from there to Contrada Sugero then retraced to Cala dell Uzzo and returned on the lower path. (User, 7/19)
Walk 38: The path from the main entrance (Torre di Vendicari) towards the south is closed beyond the first bird hide, due to water level. There is a fence across the path. The man on the gate had no idea when it will reopen. (User, 7/19)
Walk 40: Having followed the walk once, I wished to follow the begining of the walk a second time, to access a different track from waypoint 4. However as I approached waypoint 3 the bridge crossing the San Leonardo was missing. In the interviening days it had been washed away in the floods following heavy rain! Until if / when the bridge is rebuilt it is impossible to cross the fast flowing river at this point. As an alternative the walk can be accessed by approaching waypoint 4 from the opposite direction. Parking is possible at the east end of Ragusa Ibla at the archaeological site. From the car park entrance go down the stairs and continue downhill at every zig-zag or junction. 40 metres after joining Strada Comunale S. Antonio-Stazione Ibla take the flights of steps down the hill (shown on your map) and descend to the SS194 road. Turn left and follow the road for 100 metres, crossing the river San Leonardo. After the bridge turn left onto the track (shown on your map). Keep the river on the left and follow the track to waypoint 4. (User, 9/19)
GPS files for use with the Landscapes of Sicily guidebook:
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