We recently drove to the city of Caltavutoro, about an hour east of Palermo, Sicily and were completely blown away by what we discovered.
Check it out for yourself. This is a stunning ruin sitting above the city and we had it all to ourselves.
And the city of Caltavutoro was no slouch either. It was clean, the cafes and bars were full and people were incredibly friendly.
We bought this beautiful hand-painted ceramic pine cone for $25 from a local merchant. Though she spoke no English and we speak no Italian we managed to have a nice conversation using Google Translate. Her first questions to us? Why are you in this town? How did you find us? Apparently they do not get much tourism in Caltavutoro! How? I don’t know. This place is a gem.
The town boasts several churches filled with some well known art, but I have to admit? We skipped them. We were there to climb to the archaeological site to visit the ruins of the castle, the church of Casale, the amphitheater and the old settlement that was abandoned at the end of the sixteenth century.
This fortress was built by the Arabs in the 9th century. At the time, it was completely enclosed by enormous stone walls and occupied an area of ten thousand square feet. It had stables, armories, kitchens, bedrooms, granaries, cellars, cisterns and even a mill. The castle, however, was abandoned toward the end of the 17th century and houses started getting built outside the city wall.
We found the ruins to be exceptional. They are perched on a rocky outcrop surrounded by soaring cliffs and verdant valleys. It is an incredibly mysterious, romantic location. We couldn’t get enough of the place. We highly recommend a visit.
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