Excursion nr. 3 – Cava dei Servi
Its name is due to the presence of Christians that lived and prayed in the Caves during the Byzantine era, because of the Muslims incursions.
This charming Cava is located between Ragusa, Rosolini and Modica. It is an area of particular natural-landscape and archaeological beauty.
It is one of the most pristine areas of the Iblei, and thanks to its river and overhanging walls, a unique ecosystem has been created, with woods along the banks of the stream and Mediterranean scrub.
Cava dei Servi has been inhabited by man since prehistoric times. At the beginning of the excursion we will have the opportunity to visit a dolmen, a funerary monument from the ancient Bronze Age on the Cozzo Croce hill, built with slabs driven into the ground and arranged in a circle.
Continuing the excursion, from above we will be able to observe the conformation of the overhanging walls 40 metershigh in stratified rock with karst caves and the rock cavities present on the sides of the walls, we will descend to the valley floor where we will skirt the Tellesimo torrent, a tributary of the Tellaro, which forms at a certain point in its course the Gorgo della Campana, a small lake circular shape whose depth has not yet been measured. This stream is one of the most unique in the Iblea area: it starts in the Bellocozzo district inside the Cava dei Servi and ends after about 15 km, flowing into the Tellaro river, in the Noto area.
We will approach along one of the walls to better observe a ddieri (agglomeration of caves for residential use) from the Middle Ages, located at a certain height from the ground.
Going up from the valley floor we will continue on a wooded path, easy and flat halfway up the slope, through the holm oak forest, and after about 2 km we will arrive at an ancient stone staircase Scala Vacca, which descends to the Gorgo Scala Vacca, immersed in a wood of willows and elders.
From here we will go back along the same path to the car park.
| Tour length: | about 4 km |
| Elevation gain: | 90m. about |
| Tour duration: | about 3/4 hours. |
| Difficulty level: | Easy. Suitable for Everyone. |
INFO NOTES:
The bottom of the trail can be bumpy at times.
Read Booking Info and Excursion Regulations
