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Madonie to Mount Etna, Sicily: Dates 2023
13 – 20 May 2023: Fully booked
8 – 15 July 2023
26 August – 2 September
14 -21 October
Included – All riding, full board accommodation, luggage transfer & airport transfers.
Excluded – Flights, drinks & tips.
Getting There
Arrive Palermo and depart Catania.
Transfer
Please arrive before 5pm if possible, it’s about a 2-hour transfer to the first night accommodation in an old farmhouse.
All our horse riding holidays hold a price guarantee. We believe in your piece of mind on price when you book one of our horse riding holidays and will refund the difference should you find the same horse riding holiday elsewhere at a lower price.
An epic trail, which crosses the greenest and wildest part of Sicily, setting off from the eastern Madonie Mountains and crossing the wooded Nebrodi Mountains to arrive at Mount Etna, one of the world’s most active volcanoes.
Riding alongside Alex & Lizzie, they will personally guide you through the enchanting landscapes, giving you first-hand experience of the culture, staying in local agriturismo hotels, farmhouses and guesthouses along the way and eating some of the most delicious, authentic Sicilian food along the way.
Alexandre Morello & Lizzie Reeves – Partners
Alex is a true expert when it comes to Sicily’s natural wonders, biodiversity, history and culture. Over the years he has explored and organised countless horse-riding trails across Sicily. He’s an insatiable explorer who loves discovering new paths through his beloved Sicily and sharing them with our clients.
Lizzie has ridden many trails around the world but fell in love with the truly unique experience of trail riding in Sicily. She was born and grew up in London and studied French and Italian at Oxford University, before doing a post-graduate diploma in law. She worked for some time as a solicitor and specialised in international arbitration, before settling in Sicily full time to follow her true love of the island, horses and Alex.
Sicily has a good climate for riding almost all year round, amazing natural beauty and varied landscapes. Sicily is also truly unique in terms of its accessibility to riders. The island benefits from a vast network of trails and country lanes and an open countryside approach to land ownership, which means that there is access to almost all of the island on horseback, including its most remote and wildest corners. This also means that road riding during the trail is kept to an absolute minimum.
Over the centuries, Sicily has absorbed the influences of all those who have occupied the island, from the Greeks to the Arabs and the Bourbons. The charm of Sicily’s complex and unique identity is undeniably captured in its people, who could be defined as nothing other than “Sicilian”, and whose character is as intriguing and enchanting as the island’s history. The island’s richness and complexity also shine through in its cuisine, which combines centuries-old different culinary traditions and influences.
Madonie to Mount Etna, Sicily: Horses – Sicilian Local Breed, with some Arab Crosses / 14.2hh – 16hh
Madonie to Mount Etna, Sicily: Level of Riding & Pace – Intermediate to Advanced. You must be able to canter in control in open space and have and independent seat and hands.
Tack – English Style
Madonie to Mount Etna, Sicily: Weight Restriction – 90 kg / 14 stone / 198 lbs.
Madonie to Mount Etna, Sicily: Group Size – Maximum 10.
The accommodation is a mix of Agriturismo Hotels, B&B’s & Farmhouses, that have been chosen for their location, warmth and charm.
The food is delicious, every effort is made to offer local, authentic dishes, cooked with love and passion and are simply beautiful to eat.
Horse Riding Holidays at Madonie to Mount Etna are part of the Zara’s Planet collection of Horse Riding holidays Italy.
Please Ask About
Day 1: Arrival
You will arrive at Casa “Il Bosco”, a charming, restored nineteenth century country house, immersed in the wild countryside of the Madonie Park, with breathtaking views of the island’s north coast and the Aeolian Islands. You will enjoy a dinner prepared with local produce and spend the night here.
Day 2: Casa “Il Bosco” – Casalvecchio (hours of riding: 7)
After breakfast we will assign your horse and set off from Casa “Il Bosco” at around 8.30. We will begin the day riding through dense mediterranean vegetation with beautiful views of the Tyrrhenian Sea. We will pass close to the town of Castelbuono and stop for a picnic lunch, before riding up the valley of the River Pollina, one of the most fascinating, wild, panoramic and least known areas of Sicily, between the territories of Castelbuono, San Mauro Castelverde and Geraci Siculo. We will ride along enchanting and forgotten pathways to reach Agriturismo Casalvecchio. Our guests will spend the night here and enjoy a delicious dinner prepared with produce straight from the farm.
Day 3: Casalvecchio – Monte Soprano (hours of riding: 7)
After breakfast we will set off at around 9.00 in the morning. We will ride along a very panoramic ancient pathway (a “trazzera”) which passes the boundary between the three provinces of Palermo, Enna and Messina, reaching an altitude of about 1200m, before passing below the great turbines of a wind farm. We then descend into the forests of the Sambughetti-Campanito reserve, where we will stop for a picnic lunch. In the afternoon, we will continue on to the territory of Nicosia, followed by Cerami, before arriving at the agriturismo Monte Soprano, a working farm with a swimming pool set on the slopes of the Nebrodi Mountains, where we will have dinner and spend the night.
Day 4: Monte Soprano – Villa Miraglia (hours of riding: 7)
On this day of the trail we will ride through the heart of the Nebrodi Natural Park, along the famous “Dorsale” (the Nebrodi Ridge), a long dirt track (about 100 kilometres long) which passes through forests and high mountain pastures. This is a place full of charm, with extraordinary views: the Tyrrhenian Sea and the Aeolian Islands to the north, and the island’s hinterland to the south – Enna, Caltanissetta, Agrigento, Siracusa, Catania, and Etna towering above everything else. We will enter the Nebrodi Natural Park through beech woods in the territory of San Fratello, famous for its sanfratellani horses, a native breed which is very strong and hardy, with a very large head, and which you may catch a glimpse of grazing in the wild. We will stop for a picnic lunch in a shaded spot beneath centuries-old trees. In the afternoon, we will arrive at the Relais Villa Miraglia, where we will have a delicious dinner made with local Nebrodi products and spend the night.
Day 5: Villa Miraglia – Monte Colla (hours of riding: 8)
On this day of the trail we will ride for more than 40 kilometres along the “Dorsale” through mountains, woods and lakes, in the midst of a strikingly beautiful landscape. First we will come to the Maulazzo Lake, dominated by Monte Soro, the highest peak in the Nebrodi mountain range (at 1847 metres) and covered in magnificent beech woods. We will then reach the famous lake Biviere di Cesarò, which is a resting place for migrating birds. We will continue along the “Dorsale”, with lush forests giving way to clearings with panoramic views, with the Aeolian Islands to the north and the majestic peak of Mount Etna to the south. In the evening we will arrive tired but satisfied at Monte Colla, the most isolated hotel on the island, housed in an eighteenth century aristocratic home at around 1400 metres above sea level in the territory of Randazzo. Here we will enjoy a delicious dinner prepared with local produce and spend the night.
Day 6: Monte Colla – Malvagna (hours of riding: 8)
After breakfast, we will set off at about 8.00 in the morning. After leaving the hotel and its cherry orchards, we will enter the surrounding woods once again and descend the valley where the source of the Alcantara River is found. We will then climb up towards the town of Floresta (the highest commune on the island at 1273m), before following the crest of the nearby mountains to reach the megalithic site of Argimusco (recently added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites), where we will stop for a picnic lunch. In the afternoon, we will ride down through the centuries old wood of Malabotta to reach the typical village of Malvagna, which looks out towards Etna. We will have dinner and spend the night at the B&B Arco dei Sogni.
Day 7: Malvagna – Etna North (hours of riding: 7)
We will set off at 8.00 and ride through the village of Malvagna before descending into the valley of the Alcantara River, which we cross near the little gorges of Malvagna, before beginning the climb up the northern slopes of Mount Etna. We will stop for a picnic lunch on Mount Etna and continue to climb up through woods and lava flows until we reach the Rifugio Timpa Rossa (at 1844m). Depending on the season and the conditions, we will continue to climb up to the craters from the last major eruption of 2002. We will have dinner and spend the night at Rifugio Ragabo, immersed in a majestic forest of larix pines.
Day 8: Departure
After breakfast we will transfer you to the airport.
Zara’s Planet Horse Riding Holidays Guarantee:
All our horse riding holidays hold a price guarantee. We believe in your piece of mind on price when you book one of our horse riding holidays and will refund the difference should you find the same horse riding holiday elsewhere at a lower price.
If you are having trouble finding exactly the right horse riding holiday for you from our horse riding holidays collection, please contact us directly using the form below and tell us in your own words what you would like to do and we will use our extensive knowledge to make sure we find that perfect horse riding holiday.
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