Why this ride
A 255 km round trip from Belvedere - roughly 5 h 48 in the saddle. On the way it passes Necropolis of Pantalica, Palazzolo Acreide, Ragusa and Scicli.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Epipolae and Scicli
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 255 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 5 h 48
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Epipolae
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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Epipolae is where the day begins. Next is Necropolis of Pantalica.
2. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Necropolis of Pantalica comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Palazzolo Acreide.
3. Palazzolo Acreide
Long before the Baroque churches, there were the Greeks. In the seventh century BC, settlers from Syracuse founded a hilltop outpost here called Akrai, controlling the routes into the interior of Sicily. The remains of their town lie on the hill above modern Palazzolo Acreide: a small, beautifully preserved Greek theatre with views over the hills, stone quarries turned into burial chambers, and the Santoni, a series of rock-cut figures of the goddess Cybele, carved into a cliff face, weathered but still powerful.
Read the complete Palazzolo Acreide write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 60 km into the recorded legs you reach Palazzolo Acreide. Next is Ragusa.
4. Ragusa
In 1693 a terrible earthquake destroyed much of south-eastern Sicily, and the towns of the Val di Noto were rebuilt in the baroque style of the time, creating a group of towns of extraordinary beauty, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ragusa is one of them, a town divided into two parts: Ragusa Superiore, the newer town on the ridge, built after the earthquake, and Ragusa Ibla, the old town on a lower hill, rebuilt on its medieval street plan.
Read the complete Ragusa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Ragusa, about halfway. Next is Scicli.
5. Scicli
In January 1693 an earthquake flattened much of south-eastern Sicily, and the towns that rose from the rubble were rebuilt in a confident, theatrical late baroque style. Scicli is one of the eight towns of the Val di Noto listed by UNESCO for that reason, and it may be the most charming. It sits at the meeting of three limestone gorges, with a rocky hill above crowned by the ruins of the old church of San Matteo, and a centre of honey-coloured churches and palaces whose balconies are held up by carved grotesque faces, horses, sirens and monsters.
Read the complete Scicli write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Scicli sits at 93 km, about halfway. Next is back through Ragusa.
6. back through Ragusa
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ragusa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Ragusa comes up about 148 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Palazzolo Acreide.
7. back through Palazzolo Acreide
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Palazzolo Acreide write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 186 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Palazzolo Acreide. Next is back through Necropolis of Pantalica.
8. back through Necropolis of Pantalica
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Necropolis of Pantalica write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Necropolis of Pantalica, late in the day. Next is Epipolae.
9. Epipolae
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Epipolae write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 255 km.
Leg by leg
Epipolae to Necropolis of Pantalica
Epipolae → Necropolis of Pantalica is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Necropolis of Pantalica to Palazzolo Acreide
Necropolis of Pantalica → Palazzolo Acreide is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Palazzolo Acreide to Ragusa
Palazzolo Acreide → Ragusa is 37 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ragusa to Scicli
Ragusa → Scicli is 26 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Scicli to back through Ragusa
Scicli → back through Ragusa is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ragusa to back through Palazzolo Acreide
back through Ragusa → back through Palazzolo Acreide is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Palazzolo Acreide to back through Necropolis of Pantalica
back through Palazzolo Acreide → back through Necropolis of Pantalica is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Necropolis of Pantalica to Epipolae
back through Necropolis of Pantalica → Epipolae is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.