Introduction on "Nature and landscapes"

You can find there cliffs,
grim and shady woods
which make the bystander
scary and fearful.

Two million years ago the area of the Hyblaean mountains was formed from the bottom of the Mediterranean sea; this area was raised out of waters which with their ritual advance and withdrawal utterly changed the geographical configuration of this region. Those orogenetic movements, those continuous rising of the earth’s crust created the rocky masses and spectacular canyons sloping down slowly to the sea; in time they have become sources of inspiration and destination for famous writers and historians.

The highest peak of the Hyblaean mountains is "Monte Lauro," it was once a submarine volcano, whose lava on contact with water cooled down and without crystallising formed the typical roundish rocks. The area of Monte Lauro and the other Hyblaean mountains, full of mellifluous thyme trees, were famous for their honey, the nectar of Gods.

Theocritus tells about woods of oak-trees covering the hills and laurel-trees sacred to nymphs. Today those woods have become grazing lands and rivers mouths are not navigated anymore, but the landscapes of this land with their suggestive canyons, their Mediterranean vegetation, their carob-trees and dry-stone walls, ploughed fields and wildlife reserves of desquamated sunburnt stones are an unique view.

The Hyblaean territory is a multiform background made up of one hundred kilometres of coastline, the plateau of Ragusa and Modica, the calcareous tableland, the sandy shores and rocky promontories, the deep valleys where streams flow in winter.

It is an universal microcosm whose canyons have allowed the preservation of small ecological niches thanks to the cliffs and to the presence of water. Nature and landscapes are the mirror of the story of this sunny and Mediterranean land.