Nature and landscapes

Madonie Park (Parco delle Madonie) is a regional nature park of 39,679 hectares, established on 9 November 1989, between the sea at Cefalù and the interior of the province of Palermo. It includes 15 municipalities and since 2015 has been part of the UNESCO Global Geoparks network. The highest peak is Pizzo Carbonara, 1,979 metres, the second highest in Sicily after Etna.

What is in this section?

Guides to the park’s landscapes, one topic at a time: the park and the Geopark, woods and beech forests, high plains, peaks, gorges and caves, the Abies nebrodensis, flora, fauna and viewpoints. The list above tells you which are already online.

Each guide has facts with sources, frequently asked questions and the trails to go and see for yourself what it describes.

Where do you start?

With what you can see in a day.

• Beech woods: the one at Piano Battaglia, at about 1,600 metres, is among the southernmost in Europe. The Pizzo Carbonara loop runs through it. In autumn the leaves turn copper: the best spots are in the article on autumn colours in the Madonie.
• The Abies nebrodensis: the Madonie fir survives with a few dozen adult trees in a single valley. The trail to see it goes down from Portella Colla into the Vallone Madonna degli Angeli.
• Water at work: the Gole di Tiberio, a narrow canyon cut by the Pollina river near San Mauro Castelverde.
• The peaks: besides Pizzo Carbonara, Monte San Salvatore and Monte Quacella, a mountain botanists know for its rare species.

How do you find your way?

The Madonie map shows villages and trailheads. Petralia Sottana, home of the park authority, is the closest town to Piano Battaglia: start from its page.

Up high the weather changes fast. Before you go out, check the Piano Battaglia weather and, in winter, the snow section. The basic rules for walking safely are in the article on the CAI scale and safety.

Sources: Ente Parco delle Madonie for the park municipalities; Wikipedia, Parco delle Madonie for area, date of establishment and entry into the UNESCO Geoparks network, on 17 November 2015.