CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. 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.
A 279 km round trip from Belvedere - roughly 5 h 35 in the saddle. It goes by way of Necropolis of Pantalica, Militello Val di Catania, Caltagirone and back through Militello Val di Catania. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Above Syracuse the land rises in a long limestone terrace, a triangle of high ground pointing inland, and the ancient Greeks called it Epipolae, the place above the city. Whoever held it held Syracuse. During the great Athenian expedition against the city, between 415 and 413 BC, the fight for this plateau decided the war: the Athenians tried to wall Syracuse in from here, the Syracusans and their Spartan allies built counter-walls, and in the end the Athenian army was destroyed, with thousands of prisoners left to die in the stone quarries below. A few years later the tyrant Dionysius I enclosed the entire plateau with walls many kilometres long, and at its western tip he built the Castello Eurialo, one of the most complete Greek fortresses anywhere.
Read the complete Epipolae write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Epipolae is where the day begins. Next is Necropolis of Pantalica.
Thousands of small square doorways riddle the limestone cliffs above the Anapo and Calcinara valleys, like the windows of a vast abandoned apartment block. These are rock-cut tombs, some five thousand of them, carved by the people who lived at Pantalica between roughly the thirteenth and seventh centuries before Christ. Together with Syracuse, the necropolis is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and it is one of the most evocative places in Sicily, in a gorge of the Hyblaean Mountains west of Syracuse, between the towns of Sortino and Ferla.
Read the complete Necropolis of Pantalica write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Necropolis of Pantalica comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 90 km into the recorded legs 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 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.
back through Militello Val di Catania sits at 124 km, about halfway. Next is back through Necropolis of Pantalica.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Necropolis of Pantalica write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Necropolis of Pantalica comes up about 241 km into the recorded legs. Next is Epipolae.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Epipolae write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Epipolae closes the day.
Epipolae → Necropolis of Pantalica is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Necropolis of Pantalica → Militello Val di Catania is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Militello Val di Catania → Caltagirone is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Caltagirone → back through Militello Val di Catania is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Militello Val di Catania → back through Necropolis of Pantalica is 60 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Necropolis of Pantalica → Epipolae is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.