The Way of St James: the Sicilian alternative to Santiago
Sicily is a land steeped in history and spirituality, a place that holds ancient testimonies of faith with a network of ancient pilgrimage routes that lead travellers through places of extraordinary beauty. One of these paths is the Way of St Jamesa fascinating adventure that takes travellers past millenary stone villages, shrines of faith and noble castles. The Way of St James in Sicily is by analogy related to the famous Way of St James in Spain, with which it shares the saint's history and spiritual characteristics.
History of the Way of St James
The Way of St James follows in the footsteps of the patron saint of pilgrims, whose cult dates back to the 12th and 13th centuries, when the Normans brought his veneration to the island. Legend has it that the Great Count Roger dreamt of St James during the night of 25 July, depicted as 'Matamoros' - the 'slayer of the dead' in translation - armed with a sword with a cross-shaped hilt, which later became the insignia of the Military Order of Santiago, known as the 'sword of St James'. In Caltagirone, a city in the province of Catania famous for its ceramics, a church dedicated to St James was erected, and the saint became the patron saint of the city.
Stages of the Way of St James
The Way of St James begins in the renowned city of Caltagirone and covers a distance of about 130 km through an area of valleys and mountains that winds its way from the centre of Sicily along six fascinating stages:
Caltagirone – San Michele di Ganzaria – Mirabella Imbaccari
From the Church of San Giacomo di Caltagirone continue on the Via Duca degli Abruzzi, where you begin to familiarize yourself with the first arrow of the way. That arrow that will lead you to Capizzi. After a kilometre of urban roads the Way continues along the State Road 124 (attention to traffic) covering about 3 kilometers. You will find on the right side of the road the arch of an old railway bridge that the friends of the way wanted to baptize "The door of the way"; from there between the dirt floors and straight obtained from an old railway road you enter the heart of our path. After 12 kilometers we find the signs that will take us to San Miche di Ganzaria, this variant will allow you to rest, refresh and stamp your credential at the local church or town hall. We recommend a short visit to this lovely city whose origins date back to the year 1000 and was probably due to the Arabs. The house continued to be inhabited even after the expulsion of the Arabs and, during the Angevin domination, the church of San Michele Arcangelo was erected, also called "Fanum Gallorum", the Temple of the French. Once our pausavisita, we resume our journey to Mirabella Imbaccari following the arrows placed along the old railway.
Mirabella Imbaccari – Piazza Armerina
Continuing through the town take the Via Lupi for about 500 meters, at the roundabout take the second exit on the right you will find Via Vecchia Ferrovia after about 2 kilometers take the S.P. 37/I, after about 1 km on your right you will find the sign, placed at the top, on a dirt path. Enjoy these 4 kilometers of peace and silence. At Km 5,9 Find two small industrial buildings is a public aqueduct. Turn left a descent to the Vallone Quattro Teste where you have to wade a small river. A short climb to get back on the asphalt, you continue on the left. After 4 kilometers arrived at a crossroads continue towards Aidone an easy climb on asphalt for 4 km will lead you to a junction, where you will begin to admire the "creative" arrows made by the local artist Enzo Germana you are at Km 11.1. It will be the first work of art in motion made with recycled material and donated to the journey. The passage at the Hermitage of Leano at Km 13,4 is the right opportunity for a deserved rest and to appreciate the peace and silence of those places. We leave the hermitage to continue our journey: a votive chapel at Km 15,6 will signal you that you are on the right path. Leave the secondary road to get back on the Provincial Road 16, follow it for 500 meters; on the right of the road you will find the signs with another "creative" arrow. A last effort on a climb for 800 meters to be able to observe the skyline of the city of Piazza Armerina. Stop to breathe again and observe: the Aragonese Castle, the Duomo, the Jesuit College and much more. Your stop ends at the ancient Domus Hospitalia at the Church of San Giacomo where many years ago the Knights of the Tau d'Altopascio hosted the knights and pilgrims who went to the holy land.
Piazza Armerina – Valguarnera
Leave the Domus Hospitalia del Borgo San Giacomo after 600 meters you will immerse yourself in the reserve. What awaits you today is an absolute day: there will be only you and the road ahead. The reserve Rossomanno-Grottascura-Bellia will be the setting for this stage. Immersed in a lush green in some stretches you will see Galicia. (Region of Spain where the remains of San Giacomo il Maggiore in Santiago de Compostela are kept). This stage is undoubtedly one of the most beautiful, crossing a dense forest of eucalyptus, conifers of various kinds. The woods during the summer will be your great ally, its shadow will make you walk almost always in the cool, which for a pilgrim is a great grace. Along this stage you will find places symbol of the way. The reserve is very popular with lovers of walking, you will find many all year round. After 2 km you will find the chapel dedicated to the: "Madonna del Cammino" a spiritual support for all sportsmen who frequent the forest. Not far from the chapel begin the installations dedicated to: Pellegrini, Bicigrino and Ippogrini works created by the artist Enzo Germanà. Another 6 km to be able to admire a "creation" of nature! The Puppets Dancers, also called the Enchanted Stones. These rocks of limestone origin shaped by the wind remind of the characters dancing in a circle and for this reason they are the protagonists of stories and legends born from popular fantasy. Legend has it that one carnival night some people dancing in that place were turned into stone. After another kilometre the "Iron Cross" with pilgrims depicted by some iron rods with a colored stone of different colors, where the artist wanted to represent the Way in its entirety. After leaving your stone at the foot of the cross a long descent will lead you to Valguarnera.
Valguarnera – Assoro
Leaving Valguarnera, the pilgrim has the opportunity to read a prayer posted along the perimeter wall of the holy field of the village, is an invocation to Mary so that with her loving gaze she assists the journey of travelers. From that point onwards is a succession of fields of cereals and rolling hills, which depending on the seasons may appear as green and fluctuating sea waves to the spring wind, of the blond golden ridges that light up in the June sun or of the brunettes and barren hills plowed in autumn and ready to receive the precious seeds of wheat. Descending towards the valley you reach the Piana di Dittaino, where the flow of the homonymous river has made it fertile over the millennia. This valley that saw the succession of peoples and peoples throughout history, now houses the most important industrial area of the umpteenth and some agro-food activities of value, from the point of view of landscape is rather monotonous, but it becomes a must as the presence of a bar and a B & B at the train station of Dittaino that allows the pilgrim to refresh. After a well-deserved break, continue for a couple of km through the industrial area on a paved stretch, after which you begin to immerse yourself in the area of cultivation of the famous September peach in the bag, fruit with an intense smell and an enveloping flavor. After the long straight of the peach orchards, here begins the escarpment that marks the passage from the flat area of the river Dittaino to the hilly one that will lead to Assoro. Crossing the fields, in front of the pilgrim, stands like a cyclopean tower the mountain massif of Monte la Stella, which with its 901 m s.l.m. fills the horizon north of the traveler.
On the west side of Monte la Stella there is the ancient Assoro, where the only small data is the demographic one; in fact, the assorino center is inhabited since prehistoric times, to testify this is a "glyptography" engraved on the rocky wall among the ruins of the ancient castle. The foundation of the ancient Assoro coincides with the year 1450 A.C. where a confederation of Sicani, Siculi and Elimi gave life to the town. Also from the west side of the mountain massif the pilgrim climbs up along the old railway road, which led sulfur and sulfur from the town to Dittaino. The old narrow gauge railway line was commissioned by the then senator and minister Edoardo Pantano, just to allow the transport of men and goods. The route of a couple of km is an open-air museum of engineering; the galleries, arches, bridges, stone walls worked and carved meticulously leave breathless those who cross it. The route is exciting for both the eyes and the soul, from here the view and nature amaze anyone who crosses these places, the sinuous and gentle path of the old abandoned railway finally accompanies travelers until the entrance of the inhabited area of Assoro, Once arrived here it remains to go the last stretch of road of a couple of km to the historic center of the village. Assoro has two large squares overlooking the rest of the village as a belvedere, where to be the mistress are the Palazzo della Signoria that was of the Princes Valguarnera and the ancient Basilica San Leone of the twelfth century. The Basilica for its beauty and wealth of styles was declared a national monument in 1933. Other places of interest are the former convent of Santa Maria degli Angeli with adjoining church, where there is a late Baroque fresco of the Last Supper and an important archaeological area, the ruins of the Swabian-Norman castle where you can admire Mount Etna in all its magnificence. The pilgrim who will stop in Assoro can refresh himself at the bars and restaurants of the central square where he can taste typical dishes or a good pizza enjoying the beautiful view.
Assoro – Nissoria – Nicosia
Before leaving Assoro, which with its monuments and the ancient Basilica of San Leone has enchanted the pilgrims, they can taste the excellent warm croissants and traditional sweets in the bars of the central square of the village. Coming out of the old town and heading towards Nissoria and then to Nicosia, the pilgrim will walk on the ancient railway track, which will arouse great emotion in the traveller, especially in the crossing of the large stone arches overlooking the provincial road below. End of engineering work of the early '900, the ancient railway track was built at the behest of the illustrious senator assorino, now Minister of Agriculture, Industry and Trade, Edoardo Pantano. Leaving the former railway road runs along an ancient "bevaio" hexagonal stone, which collects the fresh waters of the spring Sant'Anna a little further upstream. Continuing inside the picturesque gorge, which outlines the two calcarenitic slopes of c.da Serre and Acquanuova, you can first observe an ancient rock palms carved in the rock and a little further on a Qubba where there is the head of the water that supplies the "bevai" the valley and the town of Assoro. The crossing of the valley bottom is suggestive as full of terraces and dry stone walls once cultivated with vineyards, worth a stop along the way also the centuries-old oak next to the path. About an hour after walking you reach the old farmhouse of Nysura, today’s Nissoria where you can not taste an excellent coffee and refresh yourself with excellent local bread at prices consonant with the spirit of charity and pilgrim hospitality. The monument that deserves attention is the Church of San Giuseppe which houses inside a fresco of the Master and painter Elio Romano. Continuing for the time of Nicosia will meet a couple of "I drank" where you can refresh and make stocks of water, immersed in the most typical and enchanting landscape of the hinterland ennese. The fields of wheat and hay dotted with herds, flocks and ancient olive trees will begin to leave room for landscapes more characteristic of Nebrodi, or will begin to prevail olive groves, oaks, pears and other shrubs of the Mediterranean. Before starting to climb towards the Salso River, to appear in the background will be the bursting figure of his majesty Etna " A' Mùntagna", which surrounded by beautiful fields, rolling hills and steep mountains, fill the eyes and soul of the pilgrim with true joy that only creation can give. Leaving behind the hill that marks the watershed between the territory of the Erei and the Nebrodi begins a challenging and steep descent towards the river Salso, and it is along this descent that appears in the background the city of Nicosia, that nestled among its rocky cliffs is shown in all its beauty. The view of the city, however, deceives the pilgrim making him portend an easy and not very demanding arrival, in reality the hard descent and the long climb that you undertake once you leave the bed of the river Salso, make the last stretch quite hard. After the climb, which is a climb between beautiful pastures and the Mediterranean, you reach the provincial road that finally leads to Nicosia. The city of the 24 Barons appears to the pilgrim elegant, rich in history and worthy of respect, its monuments and its beautiful Cathedral enchant the traveller who can only admire it. After a long journey, the pilgrims will conclude their visit to the Convent of the Capuchin Friars Minor where an excellent welcome will allow them to refresh themselves and refresh themselves both in body and spirit.
Nicosia – Capizzi
Leave Piazza San Francesco and continue towards Basilica San Nicola da Bari from there take the Via Vittorio Emanuele until the roundabout, a large inscription "City of Nicosia" will give you a greeting but maybe a goodbye. Continue on the SS 120 turn left and take Contrada Albereto, do not worry you have definitely "seen" the arrows. In contrada Albereto do not give up a gastronomic stop, the dairy you find on the road, to enjoy an excellent buffalo mozzarella! It’s the last stop. Enjoy it until the end. Leave the district of San Giacomo to take the SS 120 at the intersection for Cerami you will see from a small hill for the first time Capizzi, your destination! A last effort to face the final climb and here is your Capizzi.
Once in Capizzi, pilgrims who have travelled the entire route can pick up the Aurea Jacopea, a document attesting the completion of the journey. To obtain this recognition, you will need to present your travel passport with the stamps affixed to each stage.
The Way of Saint James on foot: total immersion in the beauty of Sicily
For those looking for a deep and contemplative experience, walking along the St James' Way is the ideal choice. This mode allows you to get in direct contact with the earth, to discover hidden details along the way and to connect in an authentic way with the history and spirituality of the journey, enjoying breathtaking views and enjoying the tranquility of the sacred places along the way.
The Way of Saint James by bike: fast and efficient alternative
For those who want to travel the Way of St James more quickly and efficiently, cycling is a highly recommended alternative. Mountain bikes and e-bikes adapt perfectly to this type of route, shortening the journey time without neglecting the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of nature, also offering the opportunity to spend more time visiting places of interest along the way.
The Way of Saint James for all: a path accessible to different needs
An extraordinary aspect of the Way of St. James is its accessibility. You don’t have to be completely autonomous to face this adventure. The route offers a variety of terrain, including those suitable for prams, allowing people with motor problems to fully enjoy the beauty and spirituality of this journey.
