Why this ride
From Noto it runs 120 km to Noto; allow about 2 h 48 of riding. The stops in between: Palazzolo Acreide, Necropolis of Pantalica and back through Palazzolo Acreide.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Noto and Necropolis of Pantalica
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 120 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 2 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. Noto
Noto died on the evening of 11 January 1693 and was reborn on another hill. An earthquake that struck south-east Sicily that night destroyed dozens of towns, and killed tens of thousands of people. The survivors of Noto decided to abandon the old site, high on a mountain, and build a new town a few kilometres south, on a gentle slope nearer the sea. The result is a baroque city planned on a grid, with long streets, broad stairs and a succession of churches and palaces, all made of soft honey-coloured limestone that turns gold at sunset. The late baroque towns of the Val di Noto are listed by UNESCO, and Noto is the star.
Read the complete Noto write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Noto is where the day begins. Next is Palazzolo Acreide.
2. 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
Palazzolo Acreide comes up about 30 km into the recorded legs. Next is Necropolis of Pantalica.
3. 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
about 59 km into the recorded legs you reach Necropolis of Pantalica. Next is back through Palazzolo Acreide.
4. 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
back through Palazzolo Acreide, late in the day. Next is Noto.
5. Noto
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Noto write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Noto. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Noto to Palazzolo Acreide
Noto → Palazzolo Acreide is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Palazzolo Acreide to Necropolis of Pantalica
Palazzolo Acreide → Necropolis of Pantalica is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Necropolis of Pantalica to back through Palazzolo Acreide
Necropolis of Pantalica → back through Palazzolo Acreide is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Palazzolo Acreide to Noto
back through Palazzolo Acreide → Noto is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Ragusa and Epipolae · 213 km