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from £1,755 or €2,030
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TBC
Included – All riding, full board accommodation, luggage transfer & airport transfers.
Excluded – Flights, drinks & tips.
Getting There
Arrive and depart Catania Airport.
Transfer
Please arrive before 5pm if possible, it’s about a 1-hour transfer to the first night accommodation in Castiglione di Sicilia.
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.
A fantastic 7-night circular trail around Europe’s highest active volcano, Mount Etna. This trail starts and finishes in Castiglione di Sicilia. The route heads out west at the beginning, moving round Mount Etna and down to the southern slopes before following the eastern slopes back up to your starting point at the beginning of the trail. Along the way, you will ride through valleys and forest, cross lava flows and through crater fields, where at times you feel as if you might be riding on the moon!
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.
The Mount Etna Trail, Sicily: Horses – Sicilian Local Breed, with some Arab Crosses / 14.2hh – 16hh
The Mount Etna Trail, 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
The Mount Etna Trail, Sicily: Weight Restriction – 90 kg / 14 stone / 198 lbs.
The Mount Etna Trail, 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 West to East, Corleone to Mount Etna are part of the Zara’s Planet collection of Horse Riding holidays Italy.
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Day 1: Arrival
You will arrive at Castiglione di Sicilia, complete with wonderful views of Mount Etna.
Day 2: Castiglione di Sicilia – A Barunissa (hours of riding: 5)
After breakfast, we will set off from Castiglione di Sicilia at around 9.00 in the morning and ride towards the Alcantara River and the Little Gorges of Castiglione, passing the Cuba Bizantina (a unique place of worship constructed in the seventh century). We will then follow the valley, crossing the Alcantara Natural Park, until we reach the area surrounding Mojo Alcantara. Here we will stop for a picnic lunch, before setting off again towards our accommodation for the night, A Barunissa, immersed in woods, where we will have dinner and spend the night.
Day 3: A Barunissa – La Fucina di Vulcano (hours of riding: 5)
We will have breakfast and leave our accommodation at around 8.30 in the morning and begin the day riding up the volcano’s north-eastern side, through forests of oak and chestnut, Etna’s native broom (genista aetnensis, a species which grows to impressive heights and releases an intense perfume when it is in bloom with its yellow flowers between May and September), and finally beech trees when we reach the Pista Altomontana near Monte Santa Maria. We will follow the Pista Altomontana until we reach Monte Spagnolo, and after crossing the lava flow from 1981 and its “Hornitos” (small holes that opened up during the eruption, whose name derives from the Spanish word for little ovens), we will stop for a picnic lunch. After lunch we will descend on the western slopes towards our accommodation, La Fucina di Vulcano, a comfortable hotel with magnificent views of Etna’s western side, where we will have dinner and spend the night.
Day 4: La Fucina di Vulcano – Villa Dorata (hours of riding: 5)
After breakfast, we will leave La Fucina di Vulcano at around 8.30 in the morning, and climb once again up Etna’s western slopes, to the Pista Altomontana, which we will join in the vicinity of Monte Scavo and follow through forests of beech and conifer trees, crossing more recent lava flows. When visibility is good, you can enjoy breathtaking views of half of Sicily and Etna’s western side from here, and it is also possible to enjoy some excellent gallops along this part of the trail. We will stop for a picnic lunch near the Galvarina refuge and arrive later in the afternoon at Villa Dorata, a beautiful villa with views of the gulf of Catania, where we will have dinner and spend the night.
Day 5: Villa Dorata – Etna Mille77 (hours of riding: 6)
We will have breakfast and set off at about 7:30 in the morning. Having left our hotel, we will start to climb towards the Rifugio Sapienza, Etna’s most visited site, from where tourists can take a cable car to the summit of the volcano, and which becomes a ski resort in the winter. Once we reach an altitude of around 2000 metres, you can admire the “mouth” of the 2001 eruption, from which millions of metres cubed of lava erupted and engulfed almost all of the buildings and roads on Etna’s southern side, flowing right down to the foot of the volcano. We will then pass through the middle of the Silvestri craters, created during a major eruption at the end of the nineteenth century, and nicknamed the “bottoniera” because they follow a fracture line like the buttons on a shirt. We will then descend along very challenging paths across lava flows from various older and more recent eruptions and through dense woods, before arriving in the territory of Zafferana Etnea, famous for producing honey. We will stop for the night at the B&B Etna Mille77, a beautiful house with sea views, where we will also have our evening meal.
Day 6: Etna Mille77 – Chalet Clan dei Ragazzi (hours of riding: 6)
We will have breakfast and set off at about 9.00 in the morning. We will begin by climbing Etna’s north-eastern side through oak forests, passing the famous Ilici du Carrinnu, huge trees which are centuries old. We will then ride along the edge of the Valle del Bove, a famous depression in the landscape into which all of the lava from eruptions on the eastern side of the volcano flows. After a picnic lunch we will set off again, climbing until we reach the impressive Sartorius craters, created during a major lateral eruption in 1865. We will then descend through forests of birch and beech trees, before finally arriving at the Ragabo pine forest with its giant pine trees and our accommodation, the Chalet Clan dei Ragazzi, where we will have dinner and spend the night.
Day 7: Chalet Clan dei Ragazzi – Castiglione di Sicilia (hours of riding: 6)
After breakfast we will leave the chalet at around 9.00 in the morning and begin by climbing up through the pine forest to the Piano Provenzana, a well-known ski resort, where we will begin to climb a series of tracks and paths set in a moon-like landscape, passing through the site of the last major eruption of 2002. We will ride along the craters that were formed on 26 October of that year, before riding around Monte Nero, and stopping for a picnic lunch near the Timpa Rossa refuge, immersed in a beech forest which is among those found the furthest south in the Northern hemisphere. We will then begin our descent on Etna’s north side, through a variety of forests, until we reach the vineyards around Solicchiata. Finally, we will arrive back at our starting point, where we will have dinner and spend the night.
Day 8: Departure
Breakfast and transfer to the airport (or another location on the island, as requested).
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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