Page 381 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

Africa.

< Back to Siracusa and the southeast

Ispica and the Cava d’Ispica

Inland from the cape at ISPICA, 18km southeast of Modica, human settlement can be
traced back 4000 years, to the cave dwellings and tombs carved out of the wide gorge
of the Cava d’Ispica. These were later used by generations of Sikels, Greeks and
early Christians to bury their dead, while during medieval times a strong fortified

castle, town and churches were built on the rocky bluff above the southern section of
the gorge. Then, in 1693, disaster struck, as the great quake levelled thousands of
years of habitation in one swift blow. A new town was rebuilt on the neighbouring
hill, which is where modern Ispica thrives today, a rather sprawling place set around
a central kernel of restored squares and Baroque churches, including the rather special
elliptical Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore.

Parco Archeologico della Forza

Daily 9am–1 hour before sunset • Free • 0932 951 133 • You can walk here from the centre of Ispica: follow
signs to Rosolini, and at the foot of the town the road forks – the left fork is marked Parco Archeologico della Forza,
where there’s a car park

Ispica lies at the head of a dramatic limestone gorge, some 12km long and
honeycombed with rock-cut tombs and dwellings. The area nearest to Ispica,
designated as the Parco Archeologico della Forza, has a well-marked path taking you
past the broken remains of palaces and churches and into the southern section of the

gorge itself, where caves were used as houses, storerooms, stables, workshops and
cemeteries, right up until 1693. The nearest water supply was the river at the bottom
of the gorge, reached by 3300 steps, no less. A separate path from the parking area
leads to the church of Santa Maria La Cava, cut into the rock and dating back to the
very earliest days of Christianity in Sicily – some medieval frescoes can be seen
inside.

In the week before Christmas, tableaux vivants are staged in the caves of the Parco
della Forza, with locals dressed up as peasants, reviving old traditions such as making
ricotta and shoeing horses.

Cava d’Ispica Nord

April–Oct daily 9am–1hr before sunset; Nov–March Mon–Sat 9am–1.30pm • €4

The Ispica gorge actually runs for 13km northwest towards Modica, with rock-cut
dwellings and tombs lining the entire route. It’s possible to walk through the gorge,
starting either at Ispica or at the northern section, the Cava d’Ispica Nord, which is