Driving a Sicilian Mountain Road

There is a road: the SP119, which leaves Polizzi Generosa under the high arches of the old aqueduct past the town’s largest fountain filled with clear spring water from the Madonie Moutains. And, it passes through the silence of majestic mountains and deep forests only kilometres out of town.

A battlefield

We call the SP119 The Piano Battaglia Road; it leads the way to the historic battlefield Piano Battaglia where, I came to learn from Raleigh Trevelyan's detailed read 'The Companion Guide to Sicily', the conflict between the conquering Normans and the ruling Arabs was played out in 1069.

The road meanders and gently pulls up 500 metres from Polizzi to join the SP54 at Portella Colla. And, from there, the SP54 curves a little further up the mountains to reach that monumental battlefield; Piano Battaglia.

At a soaring 1600 metres Piano Battaglia is, in Raleigh Trevelyan’s words, ‘scenically the most spectacular in the Madonie’. It is splendid.

And, threaded with long ski runs, Piano Battaglia is filled with skiers in the winter and, the area is popular for trekking and walking in the warmer months.

Views from 'The Piano Battaglia Road'

When holidaying in Polizzi Generosa taking a drive up The Piano Battaglia Road to view the village from afar, hugging the 917 m ridge on which it sits; to feel the more chilled air; to enjoy the curves and open stretches; the dramatic rocky outcrops; to hear the flow of spring water; to smell the scent of yellow ginestra in the late spring and the forests of beech, oak and firs; to walk the wooded tracks which lead off it and to listen to the silence is otherworldly.

These shots, taken late on a June day this year, capture some of the splendour of the SP119: The Piano Battaglia Road before it joins the SP54.