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Medieval Itinerary - Baroque Itinerary - Archaeological Itinerary - Bibliography

Archaeological Itinerary

This itinarary consists in a visit to an antique fortress called “Castelaccio”, believed to be the ruins of the the royal palace of Cocalo; to a district of Naro in the countryside called “Furore” and to the Early Christian Catacomb Complex in the Canale area.

Round about two kilometres away from Naro, there is the Castelaccio. This site proves the existence of an antique fortress built by the Sicani (an italic tribe, that arrived before the Greeks) in 1240 BC; some historians believe that the ruins belong to Camico, the leggendary capital of the reign of Kokalos, the King of the Sicani. The ruins of the castle is situated on a square plateau, where one can admire the most beautiful of views.

The cyclopical walls, an old stairway (which perhaps led to the entrance of the fortress) and many caves are the ruins of the fortress that have survived through time. The tower, according to historical evidence, together with the one of Naro and the one situated on the Caravello Hill, were the three towers that are rappresented on the coat-of-arms of the city of Naro, but other historians believe that the latter rappresented the tree towers present along the town walls.

Other archeological evidence belonging to the Copper and the Bronze Age can be found in the area called “Serra di Furore” (situated in the south-east part of Naro on the SS. 576 for Agrigento). According to the historians, this area was populated by a pre-historic sicilian tribe called Pelsagi, probably with greek origins. Here, one can admire the oven tombs (single or double) that have been caved into the rocks.

The Palaeo-Christian catacomb Complex, in the Canale area, is of great interest, it was most probably used during the IV–VI century DC, but till 1875 it was know as the Cave of Wonders; it’s thanks to Sergio Cavallari if we refer to it with it’s correct name of “Christian Catacomb”. The complex consists in four hypogeums (A,B,C,D). They all have similar characteristics: a long corridor (20 meters) with an only entrance facing the south, and a dromos (an outside entrance corridor). Among the objects recovered the is a bronze Valentinian II coin, fragmentsof pottery and five African oil lamps.

written by L. Universo