Page 291 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

Castiglione di Sicilia. The road through the valley runs over and alongside the river,
and the various bridges are a reminder that the name, Alcantara, is a corruption of the
Arabic word for bridge.

VISITING THE ALCANTARA GORGE

There are numerous tours to the Alcantara gorge on offer in Taormina, but you can
do the trip yourself easily enough, as four buses a day (1 on Sun) run out this way
from Taormina’s bus terminal. It’s an hour’s ride to the main entrance to the Gole
dell’Alcantara, where there’s a car park, bar and restaurant. The gorge is protected
as the Parco Fluviale dell’Alcantara ( parcoalcantara.it), but access (daily 9am–

sunset) is controlled by the Terralcantara office at the main entrance, where you pay
€8 to descend in a lift to the bottom and to follow a geological and botanical
itinerary extending for 1.5km above the river. There’s also a free public entrance,
200m beyond the main entrance (Francavilla direction), though it’s 200 steps down
and back. Within the gorge, you can rent waders and wetsuits in summer in order to

slosh along the river (it’s always icy) through pools and into the main gorge.
Terralcantara ( 0942 985 010, terralcantara.it) organizes river-trekking and
canyoning expeditions (€18 and €40 respectively) which you can book at the ticket
office. Note that the last bus back to Taormina leaves at 6.15pm.

Francavilla di Sicilia

If you want to escape the crowds at the Alcantara gorge, continue another 4km to the
largely modern town of Francavilla di Sicilia. Set alongside the river and overlooked
by the few surviving walls of its toothy old hillside castle, this was the site of one of
the bloodiest battles fought in Sicily, when the Austrian army (given logistical support

by the British) engaged with the Spanish in 1719, with obvious result apart from the
loss of some 8000 lives. There’s a path up to the ruins, and although much of the town
is newly built there’s a fair amount of interest in the couple of old central streets.
From below the castle a well-marked path winds down to the river at La Gurne,
through groves of citrus and nut trees. Here you’ll find a series of waterfalls and

natural round ponds where you can swim without the crowds.

Convento dei Cappuccini

Easter–Oct daily 11am–1pm & 3.30pm–sunset; in winter call ahead as hours vary • €2.50 • 0942 981 017 or
338 941 8324

Taking the signposted right turn as you approach Francavilla di Sicilia, you might drop
in to the Convento dei Cappuccini that peers over town and river, where a modest
little museum shows how the monks – now reduced to two – passed their time in
baking, brewing and crafting. You can also inspect the herbarium and buy some of