Oriented Nature Reserve Cavagrande of Cassibile

Distance from Hotel Borgo Pantano: 35 km (28 minutes)
The Natural Reserve Cavagrande of Cassibile is between the towns of Avola, Noto and Siracusa in the south east of Sicily. It was established in 1990 (DA 13 July), managed by the Forestry Authority of the Sicilian Region and included in the National Park Iblei. Natural Reserve Cavagrande of Cassibile is born with the aim to preserve the diverse wealth of its territory from the point of view of nature and landscape, both from the archaeological and anthropological. The plateau of Cavagrande assumes spectacular aspects of the presence of deep fractures, called “cave”, which line the edges. It is produced by erosion of the canyon streams still run on their background, looking at times superb as is the case of Cavagrande of Cassibile, one of the most majestic and impressive, now protected as a nature reserve, it was in Paleolithic era headquarters of inhabited settlements. On the walls were eight thousand tombs excavated rock-type cave, dating from the tenth and ninth centuries BC. The Natural Reserve Cavagrande of Cassibile involves an area wide 2,760 hectares. The protected area encompasses a stretch along approximately 10 km, from the river of the river Cassibile, one of the most important rivers of South-Eastern Europe, which, incassandosi strongly among the rocks of ibleo, generates a deep canyon in some It stretches over 250 meters, from the steep walls thickly vegetated. In the valley, it has formed a system of small waterfalls and ponds (locally called “uruvi”) sources of cool summer, with its many visitors which are accessed by an ancient impressive staircase known as La Scala Cruci. What makes spectacular caves due to the sliding of the rivers, is the morphology of the great canyon of Cavagrande of Cassibile, the Kakyparis Greeks. On the north side you can see a small cluster of cave dwellings. In the south there is a complex system of houses built in the rock, arranged side by side on six different parallel levels, connected by a system of tunnels and galleries. As the edge of the reserve, north-east, there are several ancient necropolis, in which they found rich grave goods and ceramics: its unique decoration, that feathered or marbled, is part of this culture in the Aeolian Islands and Ausonia in eastern Sicily around 1000 BC