Overview
If you want to admire Etna and the coasts of Calabria, you can realize this dream from the snowfields of Buccheri, on the top of the Iblei Mountains.
In the territory of Buccheri, which with its 820 meters above sea level is the highest and coldest municipality in the province of Syracuse, the presence of snowfields from the seventeenth century to the end of the Second World War is attested, centuries in which the activity of collection, conservation and marketing of snow strongly characterizes the local economy. The operation takes place initially inside caves: the Iblei plateau is landscape known for the deep quarries carved by the dragging action of water.
The first uses of the collected snow are linked to medicine, then in the seventeenth century the fashion of jasmine and lemon sorbets broke out among the nobles and this is how the snowsheds are transformed first into domed masonry constructions, then into dammuso ones, typically Sicilian and of Arabic derivation, with the internal walls in lava stone.
The snowstorms are an ancient testimony of a civilization in full harmony with the landscape. The rediscovery of these masterpieces of Sicilian minor architecture gives the visitor rural itineraries with breathtaking views.
Monti Iblei, 96010 Buccheri SR, Italia
