Sicily is an island. No news about that. So: stunning beaches, ancient temples and castles over the seaside.
A Sicily with a different, yet amazing beauty: the Sicily of the mountains.
The tallest mountain in Sicily is Mount Etna, its biggest volcano as well.
While we’ll save Etna for another post (after all a volcano is anyway a quite unusual mountain…), our today’s story is about three areas that will show you how rich the variety of Sicilian landscape can be!
Mountains of Sicily: the Monti Nebrodi Park
The Nebrodi Mountains are the closest to Etna, between Milazzo and Cefalù, across the provinces of Enna, Messina and Catania.
The Park is a great destination for trekking and bird watching: it is a natural reserve which homes royal eagles and the reintroduced griffon vultures.
The Fauna Museum in Mistretta and the Park Museum in Cesarò are the icing on the top!
Mountains of Sicily: the Madonie Park
Il Parco delle Madonie is another mountain area on the way from Messina to Palermo. Flora, fauna, unique species (the Madonie Mountains share with the Nebrodi a unique species of fir, the Nebrodensis fir), and a beautiful, little… Grand Canyon.
The Tiberio’s gorge, a canyon – style stretch of the Pollina river: kayaking and swimming experience brought to another level, in a unique amazing landscape. An adventure park for kids gives even more to enjoy after a walk.
Mountains of Sicily: the Monti Sicani Park
The biggest Mediterranean Sea island is named after the Sicani people who settled in the area before being absorbed by Rome.
The main attractions of the Monti Sicani are the Busambra Rock, a rugged ridge over the Ficuzza woods, and the Royal Palace of Ficuzza, a Casina di Caccia – a hunting lodge – commissioned by King Ferdinand III in 1799 (hunting was a popular sports for noblemen: you have another one created by the Savoy in Piedmont, for example).
The Casina di Caccia is now the seat of the Ficuzza woods museum.