Natural Reserve of Cavagrande Cassibile (surroundings)
The extensive karst plateaus of the Iblei Mountains dominate the landscape the southeast end of Sicily, between the provinces of Ragusa and Siracusa. E ‘especially in the latter that the plateau assumes spectacular aspects for the presence of deep fractures, called “hollow”, which furrow the edges. It is produced by erosion of the canyon streams still run on their background, looking at times superb as is the case of Cavagrande Cassibile, one of the most majestic and impressive, now protected as a nature reserve, it was in Paleolithic era headquarters of inhabited settlements. On the walls were eight thousand tombs excavated rock-type cave, dating from the tenth and ninth centuries BC.
Established in 1990 to preserve the natural vegetation, and restore the Mediterranean forest vegetation as well as to protect and enhance the Mediterranean fauna, the Nature Reserve of Cavagrande Cassibile affects a large area approximately 2,760 hectares, falling in the towns of Avola, Noto and Syracuse. The protected area encompasses a stretch along approximately 10 km, from the river of Cassibile, one of the most important rivers in the south-eastern Sicily, which, incassandosi strongly among the rocks of the plateau ibleo, generates a deep canyon in some places over 250 meters, from the steep walls thickly vegetated.