Home

Bronte's Territory

Let's visit, together, Bronte's Territory

Italian version

You are in: Home–› The environment

LAVA GROTTOS OF SIMETOTHE CALANNA ROCKTO ETNA FEETBRONTE'S FORESTS,  "U PAGGHIARU",  THE SCIARA,  THE ETNA


The territory of Bronte

The land of the pistachio

The Bronte area with its 25 thousand hectares is one of the largest in the Province of Catania.

Consisting largely of more or less ancient lavas superim­posed, at different times, on the ancient clayey limestone soils of sedimentary origin, the territory extends up to the central crater of Etna with an altitude ranging from 380 meters to 3350.

Represents surely one of the most interesting natural landscapes in the province as much for its various and elevated biological diversity as for the quality of the things there by represented.

Shows yet a suggestive and uncontaminated nature.

Is the land of the pistachio but also a territory rich of admirable forests and of inexhaustible itineraries along the slopes of Etna and the sides of the Nebrodi mountains.

That is how Bronte concurs notably to the protection,  conser­vation and defense of landscape and Sicilian natural environment.

It has given over one half of its territory to two wonderful Sici­lian parks, the Etna Park and the Nebrodi Park  and also to the protected zone of the Lava grottos  of the Simeto (291,2 hectares).

Among the twenty municipalities whose territories fall in area of the Etna Park, Bronte gives 10.000 hectares, over a total of 58.000 (the 18%); among the twenty one of the Nebrodi Park contributes with 3.871 hectares of which 1.495 in zone A of integral reserve and 2141 in zone B, over a total of 85,587 hectares.

Practically over 14.000 hectares of the 25.000 that compose
the territory of Bronte are  integral and very important part of the Sicilian parks.

The territorial surface extends mostly mostly along the line north-south, with a maxi­mum expansion (Etna comprised) of about 33 Km and a difference in height from the lower point (380 meters) to that highest (3.350, the Etna) of 2.970 meters.

This explains the elevated degree of biological diversity, the quality of the things represented in the territory and the number of possible economic solutions both for agriculture and husbandry.

The territory that extends with ample green valleys from the top of the central crater (3.350 m.), up to that of Mount Soro (1847 m.), on the Nebrodi, is distinguished by centenary forests, orchards that produce fruits of elevated quality, extensive cultiva­tions of pistachio, cereals and citrus fruit, vineyards, olive groves, chestnut groves and plants of prickly pears that live together with arid volcanic  ground, large extension of lava and verdant pasture land.

The environmental characteristics of the bronte's territory, the beauty and uniqueness of the places, the multiple plant elements that follow one another at the various altitudes offer everything needed for those who want to get closer to nature and the woods in particular.

The Scottish poet William Sharp (Paysley, 1855 - Maniace 1905) described the journey from Maniace to Bronte in "Through the Duchy Nelson":

«The road to Bronte climbs up to a group of wild, strange-looking rocks - a sign for many miles in all directions - where Greek and Sicilian remains have been found, and whose rugged ravines are, for the Bronte and the "Malettari ”, still a source of supernatural terrors today.

I travel through a mountainous region, with a superb backdrop of hills to the north-west - from where you can see the isolated Troina, the highest city in Sicily (3650 feet); Centuripe usually (in the area always) called Centòrbi; the tortuous Dittaino (the ancient Chrysas) in its wide Agira valley (which the people of the hill prefer to call San Filippo d'Argiro), the ancient Argyrium, (...); and again, when the sky is clear, "the navel of Sicily" the ancient Enna, homeland of Demeter and Persephone.

To give an account of the picturesque hills, the swelling mountain ridges, the broad shady valleys, the clustered towns and villages visible from several points along the route to Bronte, would be to provide but a useless inventory: suffice it to say that the scenery is, of its kind, unsurpassed.»

Besides the shelters, the forest authority and the park administrators have placed in the most beautiful and striking spots, many  "equipped receptive areas" where, in a natural environment are provided green spaces for amusement.

In the small oasis, base points for possible excursions, you can get a respected rustic recreation, being able to find ample green spaces, barbecue, fountains, tables and benches and may other useful services.

You can enter in bicycle or on foot and, for particular forest and park needs, with due permission by the authorities, even in motor vehicles.

Striking and interesting the excursion to the Nelson Obelisk, erected on the highest and most northern part of the Duchy territory in district Sierra Mergo over the Nebrodi (1553 meters a.s.l.).

  

L'Etna e l'ampia vallata di Contrada Difesa viste dalla Rivolia

My Horizon

By Luigi Margaglio

  Diffusa tenerezza di celeste
senza fiocchi di nuvole bambine.
Lontano, agli orli, bruno di foreste.
Quà e là, paesi a fior’ de le colline.

  Azzurra ai fianchi e, in cima, ancor nivale,
- forza velata dalla sua bellezza -
l’Etna, con la sua mole, il cielo assale:
miracolo d’aerea leggerezza.

  E sembra, se il candore s’invermiglia,
nei tramonti purissimi d’inverno,
altare che s’imporpora e s’ingiglia
per offerirvi un sacrificio eterno.

  Al deserto d’innumeri colate,
- flutto nero d’immobili marine -
fa riscontro riposo di vallate;
musica ondulazione di colline.

  Una gramaglia di sconforto appare
la lava, a oriente: impero della noia.
Giù, nella valle che declina a mare,
l'acqua e le piante esultano di gioia.

  E come il fiume, visto dai Poeti,
nell'aer cieco senza mutamento,
il Simeto, tra laviche pareti,
torce profondo il suo chiuso tormento.

  Ma sortito dall'alveo tremendo,
ecco spianarsi in ceruli sorrisi:
vigne, aranceti e pascoli radendo,
opulenze a specchiar di paradisi.

  Terra in travaglio, sterile e ferace,
è questa. Con un lievito di fiamma.
Che insieme accoglie, ne la verde pace,
luci di idillio e balenìo di dramma.

 My Horizon
So the poet
Luigi Margaglio
describes the horizon of his Bronte.
The poem
is taken from the volume
 “Symphony in black and white”
Lyrics edited in 1939 at Bronte
by the Stabili­mento Tipo­grafico Sociale.

Luigi Margaglio
Il Ponte normanno visto dal basso (Foto V. Saitta)



Translated by Sam Bella

      

HOME PAGEPowered by DLC for Associazione Bronte Insieme - Conditions for Navigation and PublicationnMinimum Bibliography
  - Reproduction not permitted even if partial - Last adjournment: 10-2023