Palazzolo Acreide and Villa Romana del Casale

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Catania.

2. 2. Catania

   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.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Catania comes up about 81 km into the recorded legs. Next is Villa Romana del Casale.

3. 3. 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.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 183 km into the recorded legs you reach Villa Romana del Casale. Next is back through Catania.

4. 4. back through Catania

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Catania write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Catania, late in the day. Next is Palazzolo Acreide.

5. 5. 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 at Palazzolo Acreide. That is the ride.