Madonie Park: towns, protection zones, rules and what to see

The Madonie Park (Parco delle Madonie) is a regional nature park in northern Sicily, founded on 9 November 1989. It covers 39,679 hectares in 15 towns of the metropolitan city of Palermo, from the sea at Cefalù and Pollina to the hills above Petralia Soprana and Petralia Sottana, and includes the highest peaks on the island after Etna: Pizzo Carbonara reaches 1,979 metres. It is run by the Madonie Park Authority, based in Petralia Sottana.

Since 2015 the same area has been part of the UNESCO Global Geoparks network. Here you will find the key figures, the protection zones, the rules and a map of what to see, with links to the detailed guides.

At a glance

• Area: 39,679 hectares, about 400 km² (Park Authority, 2026 plan).
• Towns: 15, all in the province of Palermo.
• Founded: regional decree 1489 of 9 November 1989, foreseen by regional law 98 of 1981.
• Altitude: from just over 400 metres to the 1,979 metres of Pizzo Carbonara.
• Managed by: the Madonie Park Authority, Palazzo Pucci Martinez, Petralia Sottana.
• Recognition: Madonie UNESCO Global Geopark since 2015, confirmed in 2025.

Where the Madonie Park is

The park covers the north-central part of Sicily. According to the Park Authority its natural borders are the Tyrrhenian Sea to the north, the Imera Settentrionale river to the west, the Pollina river to the east and, to the south, the band of hills around Sclafani Bagni, Caltavuturo, Polizzi Generosa, Castellana Sicula and the two Petralias.

To the east the Pollina valley separates the Madonie from the Nebrodi mountains. Together with the Nebrodi and the Peloritani, the Madonie form the Sicilian Apennines. ISPRA, Italy’s environmental agency, describes them as the island’s second mountain group after Etna, by height and size.

The northern side drops steeply to the sea through deep valleys. The southern side softens into clay hills that lead towards the inland plateau.

The 15 towns of the park

Each town has part of its land inside the boundary. The towns sit at very different heights, from the seaside at Cefalù to over a thousand metres in the Petralias.

Town	What you find in the park	Guide
Caltavuturo	Rocca di Sciara and its geological trail	Caltavuturo
Castelbuono	Castelbuono woods, Piano Sempria, manna ash trees	Castelbuono
Castellana Sicula	Badlands, trail to the Madonna dell’Alto	Castellana Sicula
Cefalù	The Rocca, Gibilmanna, Abisso del Gatto	Cefalù
Collesano	The chestnut path among cork oaks and oaks	Collesano
Geraci Siculo	Bosco Sugheri, Piano Catarineci	Geraci Siculo
Gratteri	Grotta Grattara, Pizzo Dipilo	Gratteri
Isnello	Piano Zucchi, Abisso del Vento	Isnello
Petralia Soprana	Rock salt mine, Piano Catarineci	Petralia Soprana
Petralia Sottana	Piano Battaglia, Park Authority headquarters	Petralia Sottana
Polizzi Generosa	Vallone Madonna degli Angeli, Abies nebrodensis	Polizzi Generosa
Pollina	Gole di Tiberio, view of the Aeolian Islands	Pollina
San Mauro Castelverde	Gole di Tiberio, Vallone dei Molini	San Mauro Castelverde
Scillato	Scillato springs, Water Museum	Scillato
Sclafani Bagni	Urban geological trail	Sclafani Bagni

Gangi is not in the park. The Madonie UNESCO Global Geopark, on the other hand, is wider: according to Balarm it includes 22 towns, and the 2026 geosite map reaches as far as Lascari, Campofelice di Roccella and Valledolmo. The difference between park and geopark is explained in the guide to the Madonie UNESCO Global Geopark.

The park zones: A, B, C and D

The area is divided into four zones with different rules. This table gives the areas from the Park Authority’s 2026 plan.

Zone	Type	Hectares	Share of the park
A	Strict nature reserve	5,733	14.4%
B	General reserve	16,535	41.7%
C	Protection	427	1.1%
D	Control, or buffer zone	16,984	42.8%

Zone A holds the main natural treasures: the highest peaks, from Pizzo Carbonara to Monte dei Cervi, and the Abies nebrodensis woodland. Here nature is kept as it is.

In zone B no new building or land transformation is allowed, but grazing and forestry work authorised by the Park Authority are permitted. Zone C hosts visitor facilities such as mountain huts, rest areas and car parks. In zone D activities compatible with the park are allowed.

The whole park is under landscape protection and hunting is banned. The only culling is carried out under the wildlife control plans, such as those for fallow deer and wild boar.

What the park protects: nature in numbers

The main reason the park was created, says the Park Authority, is its plant cover. The plant biodiversity map published by Raimondo, Schicchi and Surano in 2004 counts about 1,500 species and subspecies of vascular plants, more than half of Sicily’s flora, on just 1.55% of the island’s surface. There are 170 endemic plants.

According to the same map, woods cover about 9,600 hectares and pastures about 13,000. The high beech woods, holm oak woods, cork oak woods and the sessile oak and holly woods are described in the guide to woods and beech forests.

The Park Authority reports that the park is home to more than half of Sicily’s bird species, all the island’s mammal species and more than half of its invertebrates. Since 2021 the griffon vulture has been back, after disappearing from here in the 1950s: the story is in the guide to Madonie wildlife.

The area is also protected by the European Union. The CNR lists the “Monti Madonie” Special Area of Conservation and Special Protection Area of the Natura 2000 network within the park. Before the park, two reserves already existed, Monte Quacella and Faggeta Madonie, which were later absorbed.

What to see in the Madonie Park

The guides in this section divide the park by theme. Here is where to start, with the best-known places of each.

• The peaks: Pizzo Carbonara, Monte San Salvatore, Monte Quacella and Monte Mufara, all between 1,860 and 1,980 metres. See the guide to the Madonie peaks.
• The plateaus: Piano Battaglia, Piano Zucchi, Piano Sempria, Piano Cervi, high karst plains. See the guide to the plateaus.
• The Sicilian fir: about 30 adult trees in the Vallone Madonna degli Angeli. See the guide to Abies nebrodensis.
• Gorges and caves: the Gole di Tiberio on the Pollina river, the Grotta Grattara, the Abisso del Vento, the Scopalacqua waterfall. See gorges, caves and waterfalls.
• Geology: 70 geosites on the map published by the Park Authority in 2026 and several geological trails, some inside the villages. See the UNESCO Geopark.
• Flowers and views: peonies, orchids and endemic plants in late spring, and viewpoints with Etna and the Aeolian Islands in sight. See wildflowers and viewpoints.

When to go

The Park Authority recommends spring and autumn for hiking. For short walks any fine day of the year is fine, while it advises against crossings of the high Madonie in winter.

The nature calendar follows altitude. In the high, rocky areas flowers arrive between late May and June, with orchids and peonies. From October to the first half of November the beech woods change colour, as our article on autumn colours in the Madonie explains.

In winter heavy snow falls at altitude and Piano Battaglia becomes a ski resort: all the information is in the snow section. Before driving up, check the mountain weather and the Madonie driving guide.

How to get there

The main road into the centre of the park is the SP54, which crosses the high Madonie from Collesano and Isnello to Petralia Sottana, passing Piano Zucchi and Piano Battaglia. The SP119, which used to climb from Polizzi Generosa to Portella Colla, has been closed by a landslide since February 2026, and in June work had still not started, according to Madonie Press. From Polizzi you now drive up via the SS643, the SS120 and Petralia Sottana: about 35 km and 43 minutes.

There are two motorways. The A20 Messina-Palermo serves Cefalù, Castelbuono, Pollina and the seaward side; the A19 Palermo-Catania serves Polizzi Generosa, Caltavuturo, Petralia Soprana, Petralia Sottana and Gangi. By our own calculations on OpenStreetMap, Piano Battaglia is about 89 km from Palermo (1 hour 40 minutes, with the A19 to Buonfornello, the SS113 and the SP9 to Collesano), 45 km from Cefalù and 152 km from Catania.

Exits, provincial roads and driving times town by town are in the guide on getting to and around the Madonie by car.

Rules of behaviour in the park

On 27 June 2026 the Park Authority republished the list of bans in its visitor regulations. In short, in the park you may not:

• pick, damage or take away plants or parts of them;
• hunt or bring weapons;
• catch or disturb wild animals;
• light fires, camp or bivouac;
• drop litter;
• enter caves and cavities not marked as open to visitors;
• climb over or lean on protective fences;
• cross woodland that has been burnt;
• leave your car outside parking areas.

In September 2026 the Park Authority added a notice about monumental trees: do not stop at the foot of large trees, because branches can fall even without wind, and stay out of the woods during weather alerts.

On days when wildlife control is carried out, the Park Authority publishes “danger zone” notices listing the areas involved. Check them before leaving the main trails. For general rules on difficulty and safety there is our guide to the CAI scale and mountain safety.

Museums and visitor centres

The Park Authority lists several museums linked to the area’s nature. In Petralia Sottana, in Palazzo Pucci Martinez, the Antonio Collisani civic museum houses the Giuseppe Torre geological section of the Geopark, opened in September 2025.

In Polizzi Generosa there are the Abies nebrodensis Museum and the Madonie Environmental Museum. In Castelbuono the Francesco Minà Palumbo natural history museum holds the collections of the 19th-century naturalist. In Scillato the Water Museum, in the former Paraturi mill, tells the story of the Madonie springs.

Where to stay

The most convenient bases for exploring the park are the mountain towns. Petralia Sottana is 16.5 km from Piano Battaglia, Castelbuono is close to the woods on the northern side, and Polizzi Generosa is the gateway to the Vallone Madonna degli Angeli. You will find places to stay on where to stay in Petralia Sottana, where to stay in Castelbuono and in the full list of where to stay in the Madonie.