Hiking in the Madonie: areas, seasons, CAI grades and guides

Hiking in the Madonie happens in the Parco delle Madonie (Madonie Park), between Cefalù and the two Petralias, on a network the Park authority describes as 29 trails covering almost 300 km, plus the stages of the Sentiero Italia CAI. The heart of it is around Piano Battaglia and Pizzo Carbonara, 1,979 metres. The best months are spring and autumn, most trails are graded E and inside the Park you find no water or services outside the villages.

Here you will find how to choose your area, season and route. The pages on individual trails are in the list of Madonie trails; GPX tracks, elevation gain and altitudes are on sentierisiciliani.it.

At a glance

• Where: Parco delle Madonie, fifteen municipalities. The peaks and beech woods are around Piano Battaglia, Portella Colla and Piano Sempria.
• When: spring and autumn. In summer, early in the morning. In winter there is snow above the plateaus: you need snowshoes and experience.
• Difficulty: almost everything E (hiking), a few EE. No via ferrata among the trails published on this site.
• Water and services: no water points, first aid or refreshments outside villages and tourist areas (Park authority).
• Emergency: 112.

Where to hike in the Madonie: the areas

The Madonie are not a single block. Rock, woodland and altitude change from one valley to the next, and the starting point decides almost everything. This table lists the areas with the trails we have already described.

Area	Starting municipality	What you find	Trails on this site
Piano Battaglia and Pizzo Carbonara	Petralia Sottana, Isnello	Beech woods, dolines, the highest peak	Pizzo Carbonara
Portella Colla and Vallone Madonna degli Angeli	Polizzi Generosa	The Madonie fir, Monte San Salvatore	Abies nebrodensis, Monte San Salvatore
Quacella	Polizzi Generosa	Ridges and rock faces, tougher ground	Monte Quacella (EE)
Piano Sempria and Piano Pomo	Castelbuono	Centuries-old oaks and giant hollies	Bosco di Castelbuono
Pollina valley	San Mauro Castelverde	A canyon on the Pollina river, a Geopark geosite	Gole di Tiberio
Coast	Cefalù	The Rocca above the town and the Temple of Diana	Rocca di Cefalù (T)
From the plateaus down to the villages	Piano Battaglia, Petralia Sottana	A traverse along the Sentiero Italia	Sentiero Italia, Piano Battaglia-Petralia Sottana

Since February 2026 the SP119 between Polizzi Generosa and Portella Colla has been closed by a landslide: you reach Portella Colla from Piano Battaglia along the SP54.

For the heights and ascent routes of every summit there is the guide to the Madonie peaks; for protection zones and municipalities, the guide to the Parco delle Madonie.

If it’s your first time, start from Piano Battaglia. You get there by car from Collesano, Isnello or Petralia Sottana, you find parking and mountain huts, and there are trails for half a day or a whole day. Before going up in winter, check the page on Madonie roads.

When to go: the right season

The Park authority recommends spring and autumn for hikes and advises against winter for crossings of the High Madonie. Each season has its reasons and its limits.

Season	Why go	What to watch out for
Spring (April-June)	Snow retreating, beeches coming into leaf, flowers; in late May the broom Genista demarcoi blooms below Pizzo Dipilo	Leftover snow patches up high until April, mud
Summer (July-August)	Cooler at altitude than on the coast, long days	Strong sun on shadeless plateaus; on days of high fire risk the Park authority asks people not to hike
Autumn (September-November)	Yellow and red beech woods from October to early November, clear air	Short days, sudden fog, first cold spells
Winter (December-March)	Snow on the plateaus of Piano Battaglia	Crossings not recommended; you need snowshoes, equipment and the ability to read the bulletin

For autumn colours there is the guide to the beech woods in autumn. For snow, the snow in the Madonie section, with the page on winter safety.

One last thing to check, in every season. In its notices the Park authority publishes the days of wildlife control with firearms: in those areas, from dawn to sunset, you must not go in. On 14 October 2026, for example, it was the turn of Alastri, Catarratti, Sant’Otiero, Taccarelle and Mandarini, in Petralia Sottana.

How hard are the trails: the CAI scale

Madonie trails use the scale of the Club Alpino Italiano. The full explanation, with waymarks and what to bring, is in the article on the CAI scale and safety. Here you only need to know how it translates in these mountains.

Grade	What it means	Example in the Madonie
T	Tourist: short, clear routes on roads or mule tracks	The Rocca di Cefalù
E	Hiking: waymarked paths, some steep sections, you need a steady step and suitable shoes	Pizzo Carbonara, Monte San Salvatore, the Abies valley, the Castelbuono woods, the Gole di Tiberio
EE	For expert hikers: rough ground, steep or slippery slopes, exposed sections	Monte Quacella
EEA	Routes equipped with cables and ladders	None among the trails published on this site

The grade measures the terrain in good weather. With snow, ice or fog an E trail gets harder, and Madonie rescues show it well: three young people who reached the top of Pizzo Carbonara lost the path on the way down, in the dark and without suitable gear, and Alpine Rescue teams brought them down.

The Sentiero Italia CAI and long-distance routes

The Sentiero Italia CAI crosses the Madonie from west to east. The distances below come from the CAI’s official stage sheets, where you also find elevation gain, times and tracks.

Stage	From	To	Distance
SI V14	Montemaggiore Belsito	Scillato	20.2 km
SI V15	Scillato	Piano Battaglia	19.0 km
SI V16	Piano Battaglia	Petralia Sottana	13.9 km
SI V16V (variant)	Piano Battaglia	Petralia Sottana	10.1 km
SI V17	Petralia Sottana	Contrada Rainò	13.1 km
SI V18	Contrada Rainò	Sella del Contrasto (Gangi)	23.3 km

V15 is the hard one: from Scillato you climb all the way to Piano Battaglia at 1,587 metres. On arrival the welcome point listed by the CAI is the Rifugio Giuliano Marini.

The Madonie also have pilgrim routes. According to the Park authority, the Via dei Frati runs for 173.2 km from Caltanissetta to Cefalù on provincial roads, old drove roads and paths, and in the Madonie it passes through Gangi, Geraci Siculo and Castelbuono.

Who to walk with: guides, the CAI and associations

On your own you can do the waymarked trails you know. For everything else it’s worth having someone local.

Hiking guides. The Sicilian Region keeps a register of environmental, nature and hiking guides: on 7 October 2026 it held 668 names. It is not a licence to practise, but for each person it records their qualification and membership card number. When you book, ask the guide which association they belong to and about insurance cover.

CAI. In the Madonie there are the Madonie section in Petralia Sottana, the Polizzi Generosa section and a group in Gangi, all of which appear in the 2026 Geopark Week programme. Club outings are designed for members: ask the section how to take part.

Park authority and Punti Qui Parco. Between late May and early June the European Geoparks Week fills the calendar with guided visits to geosites and trails. In 2026 they included the Monumental Trees trail at Pomieri and the Battaglietta-Portella Colla geological trail.

Trails for everyone. The association Madonie a passo lento, with Madonie Outdoor asd, runs outings with the joëlette, the single-wheel off-road chair for people with reduced mobility. The Park authority lists the trails of Piano Cervi, Piano Battaglia, Battaglietta, Piano Farina and Piano Catarineci as suitable.

What to bring and the Park rules

The Parco delle Madonie warns that visiting it means accepting the natural risks of the terrain, and that outside the villages there is no water, food or assistance. Pack accordingly:

• closed hiking shoes, never smooth trainers or sandals;
• water for the whole day, because fountains are rare on the karst plateaus;
• warm layers and a windproof jacket even in summer, because up high the temperature drops quickly;
• a charged phone, a downloaded track and someone who knows where you are going.

The main rules, from the Park’s list of prohibitions:

• don’t leave the waymarked trails, also because much of the land is private;
• no picking plants, flowers or parts of them;
• no fires, camping or bivouacking;
• don’t enter woods burned by fire or caves that are not signposted;
• don’t linger under monumental trees; during weather alerts for wind, storms or snow it is forbidden to go into woods near large trees.

On dogs: a regional decree of October 2025 allows them on a lead in protected areas, but only on trails chosen by each managing body. For the Madonie, ask the Park authority which ones.

Tracks, maps and where to sleep

Our trail pages give difficulty, approximate distance and time, the starting point and nearby villages. For the full track and profile, open the “Track and technical details” box on each page, which links to sentierisiciliani.it. To see all starting points on a map, use the Madonie map.

On a multi-day trek you sleep in mountain huts, farm stays or villages: you will find them all under where to stay in the Madonie. In winter, see the page on huts open in the snow.

And if you want a change of pace, the Madonie can also be explored by mountain bike and on horseback.