It’s called Sperlinga, the 50 caverns easily accessible by staircases, attached by little roads that leads right into the rock and form this amazingly unique place. Every one of the caverns was used as a cottage, with a couple of rooms; the majority of them today have actually been purchased by the Town as well as transformed into an ethnographic gallery.
Not surprisingly , the name Sperlinga originates from the Latin “spelunca” (underground chamber, cavern),; in this ‘aggrottato’ you see the resourcefulness of the “siculi” conquering what at first sight looked like an impenetrable territory. As a matter of fact, the entire location around Sperlinga is a detailed system of man-made caves from the sandstone, amongst which are the popular sites of Contrada Rossa and Peirito, most likely a pre-christian areas.
With the caves, it came also the castle: a masterpiece that seems like having been carved out of the rocks. At the foot of the castle is the Church of Grace, the very first church of the town, renowned for a lovely wood crucifix from the old church of the citadel. In order of dimension, there is the Mom Church, a structure with a solitary nave. The 3rd church of the town is that of S. Anna from the 2nd half of 1600’s, connected to the convent of the Augustinians where a wood crucifix from the order of Friar Umile of Petralia is shown.
Once there you don’t want just to admire the incredible uniqueness of this area. You really need to try the local cuisine. The frascatela, is a polenta of durum wheat or turf pea flour, with lard and also broccoli. Nonetheless, the tortone is another mouthwatering local dish. It is a cake made with bread dough, fried in oil and rolled in a mix of sugar and cinnamon.
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pic source: visitsicily.it
