CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Catania it runs 448 km to Catania; allow about 8 h 29 of riding. The stops in between: Mount Etna, Militello Val di Catania, Caltagirone and Villa Romana del Casale. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 40 km this is Sicily Etna Scenic Road, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
Catania has been knocked down and rebuilt so many times that it has made a style out of resilience. Lava from Etna overran parts of the city in 1669, and then in 1693 a devastating earthquake flattened it almost entirely. The rebuilding produced one of the most striking Baroque cities in Italy, built with dark grey lava stone set off against pale limestone, with wide straight streets designed to offer escape routes in future disasters. The centre is part of the Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto World Heritage Site, and Etna looms over everything, often smoking at the end of the Via Etnea.
Read the complete Catania write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Catania is where the day begins. Next is Mount Etna.
Etna is not so much a mountain as a living presence that dominates eastern Sicily. Europe's highest active volcano rises over 3,300 metres above Catania, its height changing as eruptions add and remove material, and it smokes, rumbles and occasionally spits fire with a regularity that the locals regard with a mix of reverence and resignation.
Read the complete Mount Etna write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Mount Etna comes up 45 km in. Next is Militello Val di Catania.
Militello in Val di Catania is a small town in the hills south-west of Catania, in eastern Sicily, surrounded by orange groves and olive trees, with Mount Etna visible on the horizon. Like many towns in this part of Sicily, it was devastated by the earthquake of 1693, which destroyed much of the south-east of the island, and was rebuilt in the Baroque style. Its churches and palaces are part of the UNESCO-listed Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto, inscribed in 2002, together with Noto, Ragusa, Modica, Caltagirone and others.
Read the complete Militello Val di Catania write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
89 km in you reach Militello Val di Catania. Next is Caltagirone.
Caltagirone is a city built on ceramics. Perched on a ridge in the hills of south-east Sicily, it has been making pottery since ancient times, and the tradition is everywhere: majolica tiles on balconies, bridges and church domes, pottery shops lining the streets and a museum devoted to the craft. Its most famous sight is the Scalinata di Santa Maria del Monte, a staircase of well over a hundred steps climbing from the lower town to a church at the top, each riser decorated with hand-painted tiles in different patterns and colours. In late July, for the feast of Saint James, the staircase is lit with thousands of oil lamps arranged in designs, a magical sight.
Read the complete Caltagirone write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Caltagirone, about halfway. Next is Villa Romana del Casale.
Somewhere in the fourth century AD, a very rich Roman, perhaps a senator or an imperial official, built a country villa in the hills of central Sicily and covered its floors with mosaics. The Villa Romana del Casale, just outside Piazza Armerina, has some of the finest and most extensive Roman floor mosaics anywhere, around 3,500 square metres, inscribed on the UNESCO list in 1997. Buried by a landslide in the Middle Ages, the villa was rediscovered and excavated mainly in the twentieth century, and the mosaics were preserved remarkably well.
Read the complete Villa Romana del Casale write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Villa Romana del Casale sits at 178 km, about halfway. Next is back through Caltagirone.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Caltagirone write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Caltagirone comes up 223 km in. Next is back through Militello Val di Catania.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Militello Val di Catania write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
267 km in you reach back through Militello Val di Catania. Next is back through Mount Etna.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Mount Etna write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Mount Etna, late in the day. Next is Catania.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Catania write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 448 km.
Catania → Mount Etna is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Mount Etna → Militello Val di Catania is 76 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Militello Val di Catania → Caltagirone is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Caltagirone → Villa Romana del Casale is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Villa Romana del Casale → back through Caltagirone is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Caltagirone → back through Militello Val di Catania is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Militello Val di Catania → back through Mount Etna is 76 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Mount Etna → Catania is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.