Monday 26th October 2009 – Punta Braccetto, Sicily, Italy

Our target for today was the Cava D'Ispica, one of two areas of Prehistoric caves in this part of Italy. The major area is Pantellica, quite close to Siracusa and this would have been the obvious place to visit. However, the map showed that the site is a long way up tortuous mountain roads, at a dead end and away from any villages. Not knowing how Henrietta would cope with the roads, I decided to go for the Cava D'Ispica on a through road and only 6 km off the main SP 115. The Michelin map showed a motorway under construction and this turned out to be open, soon to be a pay motorway (they were building the toll booths) but currently free. This speeded up our journey and we arrived before 11:30 and according to the guide book that allowed us just over two hours to see the free site. It turned out that there was now an entrance fee (a very reasonable €2) but the site was now open all day. The gorge is 12 km long, extended all the way back to Ispica and has caves along its entire length. They date back to the early bronze age when natural caves were used as houses. They were often extended by excavation and must have provided relatively comfortable accommodation. The fertile river valley must have also added to the attraction of the site.
When the Greeks colonised the island, they adapted the caves for burials, digging many tombs in the floors and walls of the caves. They also used the caves for habitation when pirate raids forced them in land from their cities. The Romans continued the practice of burials in the area and they have provided rich archaeological evidence for many cultures from the Bronze age right into the Christian age with the caves being finally deserted after the 1693 earthquake.
The scenery changed on the way, with volcanic rock giving way to limestone and craggy mountains appearing on the edge of the flatter coastal land. As we approached Ispica, drystone walls separated the fields and we saw many pomegranate, carob and walnut trees. As we walked around the site, carob pods lay all over the ground, the fermenting fruit filling the air with a pungent, sweet scent.
The site itself is based at the northern end of the gorge where there is a particularly dense collection of caves and we spent some time exploring them. Most had rock-cut, man-size slots in the floors and often in the walls although some had small pits, presumably for cremations burials. A fascinating site.
We walked a little further north to see 'Our Lady's Grotto' and, just by the car park, 'St. Nicolas's Grotto', complete with faded frescoes. We could have walked down the valley towards Ispica but decided to move on back to the coast to Camping Scarabeo at Punta Braccetto. This turned out to be a small but very impressive site next to the beach, full of flowering plants and with lovely pitches. We were welcomed by the Swiss couple next to us and I said how nice we thought the campsite was. They agreed but said that there was a problem with flies and as soon as we sat outside we saw the problem. And felt the problem – they crawled all over you and it was impossible to get rid of them. Subsequently we were told that they are come from Tunisia, which is very close, and appear when the wind is in a certain direction. We were told that they had been much worse over the last few days, so we hope that they are on the decline.
Photos: The fertile valley at Cava D'Ispica with cave dwellings visible in the cliff face; The 'Ipogei del Camposanto', a pre-historic dwelling reused as a tomb; A complex of caves eroded by the elements and probably damaged in the 1693 earthquake.