Rocca di Sciara geological trail, Caltavuturo

The Rocca di Sciara geological trail climbs from Caltavuturo to the top of the limestone crag that towers over the village, at about 1,080 metres, where the ruins of the San Nicola hermitage remain. It is about 2 km and an hour of walking uphill, not counting stops, and you return the same way. It is a short hiking trail, suitable for families, best from October to May.

It is a small open-air museum: in an hour you walk through almost 200 million years of Earth’s history.

Why climb the Rocca di Sciara

To see the Madonie from the inside, literally. The Cefalù Madonie tourist district explains that the Rocca and its surroundings show an almost complete sequence of the rocks of the Imerese Domain, an ancient deep-sea basin, from over 200 to about 24 million years ago.

And for the view from the top over Caltavuturo, the ruins of the Terravecchia castle, which lie just below the Rocca, and the rest of the Park.

What you see along the trail

The trail is marked by observation points. From the start you see the whole Rocca and understand how the layers are stacked.

Climbing among holm oaks, cork oaks and pines you meet the radiolarites and siliceous clays: first grey-green and well layered, with a band of limestone where you can make out fossil sponges. Further on the same rocks turn wine red, purple-grey and brown, so eroded they look floury. A sharp contact with a limestone bank shows where the rocks were deformed by tectonics.

At the top is the medieval San Nicola hermitage. After restoration, Caltavuturo’s tourism site writes, you can read the rectangular plan, the apse with a small pointed window and the remains of the door. The same site mentions a boulder with a Latin inscription about the Last Judgement expected around the year 1000.

From the summit, to the north-east, you see the highest peaks around Piano Battaglia. The district describes it as a spot that sums up the geology of the Madonie in a way that is hard to find elsewhere.

Who it is for

The trail is graded E. It climbs about 300 metres with no exposed passages, so it also suits children and families used to walking.

The sheer wall above the village is used for sport climbing, but that is another world: from the trail you do not go near the edge.

When to go

October to May. The Rocca is low and in summer the slope heats up a lot: if you climb between June and September, do it early in the morning. Check the weather in Caltavuturo before you go.

How to get to the start

The trail starts on the edge of Caltavuturo, near the sports ground. The Madonie Park suggests leaving the car in Via Terravecchia. The “Directions to the start” button on the page takes you to the beginning of the track.

Where to sleep and eat

You will find accommodation in where to stay in Caltavuturo and restaurants in where to eat in Caltavuturo.

Around mid-August the village hosts the International Folklore Festival. The Caltavuturo page covers Terravecchia, the civic museum and the Gole di Gazzara, reached on another walk.

Tips

• Bring water: there are no fountains along the trail.
• A magnifying glass makes the fossil hunt more fun, but the stones stay where they are.
• Shoes with a grippy sole: on the way down the clays are slippery, especially after rain.