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.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
From Siracusa it runs 534 km to Siracusa; allow about 9 h 48 of riding. The stops in between: Necropolis of Pantalica, Militello Val di Catania, Caltagirone and Mount Etna. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,200 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Ortygia is the island where Syracuse began. Greek colonists from Corinth landed here in 734 BC, drawn by a harbour and a freshwater spring, and the town they founded grew into the most powerful city in the Greek world, rivalling Athens. The island is small enough to walk across in fifteen minutes and holds an astonishing density of history. The cathedral is built into the columns of a Greek temple of Athena, so the Doric pillars are still visible in its walls. A few steps away, the freshwater spring of Arethusa still bubbles up beside the sea, with papyrus plants growing in the pool.
Read the complete Ortygia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ortygia 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 50 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.
100 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 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 sits at 199 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 249 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.
299 km in you reach back through Militello Val di Catania. 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, late in the day. Next is Ortygia.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ortygia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 534 km.
Ortygia → Necropolis of Pantalica is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Necropolis of Pantalica → Militello Val di Catania is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Militello Val di Catania → Caltagirone is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Caltagirone → Mount Etna is 97 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Mount Etna → back through Caltagirone is 97 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
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 Necropolis of Pantalica is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Necropolis of Pantalica → Ortygia is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.