Few people know that, in the heart of Sicily, there is a real desert, a highly suggestive place among the provinces of Catania and Enna, fra Etna, Erei mountains and Simeto river: let's talk about Gullies of Cannizzola. Let's discover them together.
The Calanchi del Cannizzola, the desert in Sicily
It is a very particular and suggestive place, abandoned for years, belonging to a Unedited Sicily, surreal, made up of magnificent places. This site is living a new life to empower the tourist vocation. THE gullies of the Cannizzola, also known as avalanches, are located in a territory between centuripe, municipality that falls within the province of Enna, and Paternal which instead belongs to Catania. The area has been exploited for centuries for agriculture and breeding. Here sheep and cows are brought to graze and olive groves, citrus groves and vegetables are cultivated. It falls into that area of the plain of Catania.
It is a geomorphosite formed by furrows grouped in valleys, originating from the action of water on clayey rocks, between Erei mountains andEtna, in Simeto valley. The geologist of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology Pierfrancesco Burrato, sul site ofEngv, defined them as «a geomorphological phenomenon of erosion of the surface layers of the soil which occurs mainly due to the effect of water flowing on clayey rocks, with scarce vegetation cover and therefore poorly protected from runoff. The term gullies therefore indicates the furrows in the ground along the side of a mountain or a hill that represent narrow and sharp drainages».
The Calanques belong to the list of sites of community interest / special areas of conservation of the Natura 2000 network. It is an area that has geological characteristics that are unique worldwide and of value in terms of landscape and environment.
Peculiarity of the Calanchi del Cannizzola
I Gullies of Cannizola they are so called because of the homonymous torrent right tributary of the simeto river, they have clayey soils and alluvial deposits. Badlands take on forms of real sculptures which above all reproduce the shape of a foot ofelephant.
In this area there are also coexisting cultivated fields, surrounded by groves of Mediterranean scrub, citrus groves, olive groves.
For all these characteristics it has often been used as a location to shoot films, commercials and videos. Among the examples that we can cite: the American blockbuster "The Bible" of 1966 directed by J. Huston, the fiction by a Franco-Swiss production by Cattleya in 2020, the road movie of Colapesce Dimartino.
The Big Bench and the first nature trail
Last year, the entrepreneurial family from Biancaville, i Capizzi, owner of a fund within the Gullies of Cannizzola, in order to create a tourist site, has created the Big Bench n.202 where you can admire the view. It is a very particular installation, a large bench, born from a project by theAmerican architect Chris Bangle. These giant benches, very colorful and arranged in strategic positions, spread over the most suggestive places in the world, allow you to live the experience with nature in close contact, appreciating all the details. The initiative is part of the 'BIG BENCH COMMUNITY PROJECT (BBCP)' for supporting local communities, tourism and the artisan excellence of the countries where these out-of-scale installations are located. The Calanchi bench is blue and pink. In this year it was photographed and shared on all social networks.
The Capizzi family has invested and is investing to create a high-use site. This year a nature trail for trekkin. The project was born in synergy with a team of other young entrepreneurs in the area and tourist associations.
Site enhancement
The heart of this project that is expanding more and more is growth and sustainable development, the strengthening of respect for places, the right use of nature, an experiential circuit that allows you to make the most of the resources of this area.
Since recent weeks, numerous activities can be carried out here: trekking, horseback riding, quad biking, excursions. There is also an area with toilets, a barbecue area, a space for setting up tents and hosting caravans and campers, a common picnic area with tables, benches and gazebos, a ping pong table. There is also a catering service.
An ideal place to spend trips out of town, have barbecues and live an empathic experience in this "place of the soul".
