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Underground Ragusa trail
@2021 - SICILYKIOSK tutti i diritti riservati
@2021 - SICILYKIOSK tutti i diritti riservati
The underground life of Ragusa. Cava Gonfalone, a unique expression of Sicilian industrial archaeology, and all the other Hyblaean latomies form a hidden world worth discovering.
The pickaxe blows on the walls are still visible. Dozens and dozens of men worked for decades in Cava Gonfalone. Did you know Ragusa has an underground life? Today it is only animated by ghosts from the past, even if there’s a tendency towards some form of reclamation. Once quarrymen used to live there; they extracted the stone every day that was needed to build the city. Cava Gonfalone is an amazing manifestation of Sicilian industrial archaeology, a quarry-mine used for the extraction of stone in a Ragusa turned industrial after the 1693 earthquake. Access is from via Risorgimento and as you enter the valley, you are almost sucked in, then let yourself go to the wonder of this place with its silent, yet clearly perceptible, soul. Its environmental conditions are unique thanks to the internal climate that remains constant all year round and its appearance is imposing, stretching for 15,000 metres and rising close to 12 metres high.
But Cava Gonfalone is not the only expression of underground life in the county seat: the bowels of Ragusa are in fact crossed by spectacular latomies.
There’s Cava Santa Domenica, which cuts the city in two: one side was once used for the intensive agricultural production of vegetables and fruit trees, while the other for white limestone mining. Then there’s Cava della Misericordia with its characteristic Grotta del Gigante (Giant’s Cave), a rock that looks like the face of a giant man. There’s also Cava Velardo, which you reach from Cava Santa Domenica: here you can admire about fifty tombs dating back to the Sicels and a still-operational water mill, where you can buy flour ground just as it used to be.
However, the list of the Hyblaean latomies is not complete yet. To finish up there’s Cava Paradiso, one of the most evocative peaks of the Hyblaean Mountains, crossed by the Mastratto stream, a tributary of the River Irminio; Cava Volpe, once farmed and inhabited but today almost inaccessible; and Cava San Leonardo that takes its name from the stream that crosses it. It was known as the “mill quarry” because it housed numerous water mills that harnessed the energy of the stream, so much so that it was inhabited until the 1950s by the mulinari (mill workers) and their helpers, the custari, and by the sciumarari (river workers, from sciume in Sicilian, which means river), who farmed the valley terraces thanks to the ‘saie’, an ingenious system of irrigation. Laundresses, also made use of it, coming to wash clothes there.
Books, music, but also good food, theatre, and shows. Ragusa offers quality events all year round that attract thousands of visitors from all over Sicily and beyond. Tourists who are in the city in those days are fascinated by the great human warmth and cultural richness that the city gives off.
There are numerous summer events, but also winter in Ragusa is livened up by various theatre and music festivals: Melodica, Ibla Classica International for music; the season at the Donnafugata Theatre and Palchi Diversi (Different Stages) for the theatre (the latter moves to the beautiful backdrop of the Castle of Donnafugata for the summer version Palchi Diversi Estate al castello), to name but a few.
In short, Ragusa is to be lived all year round!
Books, music, but also good food, theatre, and shows. Ragusa offers quality events all year round that attract thousands of visitors from all over Sicily and beyond. Tourists who are in the city in those days are fascinated by the great human warmth and cultural richness that the city gives off.
There are numerous summer events, but also winter in Ragusa is livened up by various theatre and music festivals: Melodica, Ibla Classica International for music; the season at the Donnafugata Theatre and Palchi Diversi (Different Stages) for the theatre (the latter moves to the beautiful backdrop of the Castle of Donnafugata for the summer version Palchi Diversi Estate al castello), to name but a few.
In short, Ragusa is to be lived all year round!
Books, music, but also good food, theatre, and shows. Ragusa offers quality events all year round that attract thousands of visitors from all over Sicily and beyond. Tourists who are in the city in those days are fascinated by the great human warmth and cultural richness that the city gives off.
There are numerous summer events, but also winter in Ragusa is livened up by various theatre and music festivals: Melodica, Ibla Classica International for music; the season at the Donnafugata Theatre and Palchi Diversi (Different Stages) for the theatre (the latter moves to the beautiful backdrop of the Castle of Donnafugata for the summer version Palchi Diversi Estate al castello), to name but a few.
In short, Ragusa is to be lived all year round!
Books, music, but also good food, theatre, and shows. Ragusa offers quality events all year round that attract thousands of visitors from all over Sicily and beyond. Tourists who are in the city in those days are fascinated by the great human warmth and cultural richness that the city gives off.
There are numerous summer events, but also winter in Ragusa is livened up by various theatre and music festivals: Melodica, Ibla Classica International for music; the season at the Donnafugata Theatre and Palchi Diversi (Different Stages) for the theatre (the latter moves to the beautiful backdrop of the Castle of Donnafugata for the summer version Palchi Diversi Estate al castello), to name but a few.
In short, Ragusa is to be lived all year round!
SITES
Cava Gonfalone
Via Risorgimento
Cava Santa Domenica
Cava della Misericordia
Cava Paradiso
Cava Volpe
Books, music, but also good food, theatre, and shows. Ragusa offers quality events all year round that attract thousands of visitors from all over Sicily and beyond. Tourists who are in the city in those days are fascinated by the great human warmth and cultural richness that the city gives off.
There are numerous summer events, but also winter in Ragusa is livened up by various theatre and music festivals: Melodica, Ibla Classica International for music; the season at the Donnafugata Theatre and Palchi Diversi (Different Stages) for the theatre (the latter moves to the beautiful backdrop of the Castle of Donnafugata for the summer version Palchi Diversi Estate al castello), to name but a few.
In short, Ragusa is to be lived all year round!
Books, music, but also good food, theatre, and shows. Ragusa offers quality events all year round that attract thousands of visitors from all over Sicily and beyond. Tourists who are in the city in those days are fascinated by the great human warmth and cultural richness that the city gives off.
There are numerous summer events, but also winter in Ragusa is livened up by various theatre and music festivals: Melodica, Ibla Classica International for music; the season at the Donnafugata Theatre and Palchi Diversi (Different Stages) for the theatre (the latter moves to the beautiful backdrop of the Castle of Donnafugata for the summer version Palchi Diversi Estate al castello), to name but a few.
In short, Ragusa is to be lived all year round!
Books, music, but also good food, theatre, and shows. Ragusa offers quality events all year round that attract thousands of visitors from all over Sicily and beyond. Tourists who are in the city in those days are fascinated by the great human warmth and cultural richness that the city gives off.
There are numerous summer events, but also winter in Ragusa is livened up by various theatre and music festivals: Melodica, Ibla Classica International for music; the season at the Donnafugata Theatre and Palchi Diversi (Different Stages) for the theatre (the latter moves to the beautiful backdrop of the Castle of Donnafugata for the summer version Palchi Diversi Estate al castello), to name but a few.
In short, Ragusa is to be lived all year round!
INFO
Winter
Ragusa
Ragusa is not only a summer destination, it is ready to offer beauty, emotions and fun in every season. Come and discover it in the winter season!
INFO
From July 13 to September 30
Come to the info point for more info and reservation
Some shows and events required the purchase of a ticket. Contact the info point to know which events are the paid events and get more details.