The Way of St James in Sicily

The route starts at the church of San Giacomo, in the middle of Caltagirone. Once out of town you pass under the arch of an old railway bridge — locally, the gate of the way — and from there the road turns into open country: fields, farmsteads, and the bed of a disused railway that threads the whole day together.

After a dozen kilometres you reach San Michele di Ganzaria: the right place to stop, get your credential stamped and step into the church of San Michele Arcangelo, the oldest part of the village. Then on again, still along the railway, to Mirabella Imbaccari, through low hills and farming country.

Leaving Mirabella you return to the old railway, through gullies and small streams, as far as the Eremo di Leano, a good place to stop.

Along this stretch the waymarks are not only waymarks: several artists, Sicilian and not, have built arrows out of salvaged material, and they have become part of the route. After the last climb the view opens onto Piazza Armerina, with the cathedral and the Aragonese castle on top. The stage ends at the church of San Giacomo, once the Domus Hospitalia of the Knights of the Tau: pilgrims found a bed and a rest there eight hundred years ago, and that is still where you arrive.

From the Borgo San Giacomo of Piazza Armerina you enter the Rossomanno-Grottascura-Bellia reserve almost at once: eucalyptus and conifers, and a silence that many say feels like Galicia — which, on this particular route, is not an idle comparison.

Inside the wood stands the chapel of the Madonna del Cammino. A little further on come the Pupi Ballerini, wind-carved rocks that legend tells of as dancers turned to stone, and then the Croce di Ferro, where walkers leave a coloured stone: the sign that you came through. A long descent among the hills leads down to Valguarnera.

You leave Valguarnera by the cemetery and drop through hills and wheat fields to the plain of Dittaino, where the small railway station makes the natural midday stop.

Then you climb again, with Monte La Stella ahead and the village of Assoro perched on top. The last stretch follows the old mining railway, with its stone bridges and tunnels, and leads straight into the old town: above it stand the basilica of San Leone and what is left of the Norman castle.

From Assoro the route follows the old Pantano railway, between stone arches and gullies. You pass the springs of Sant’Anna and the old bevai, the stone troughs where animals were watered: what is left of a way of working the land.

After the stop at Nissoria — ancient Nysura — the landscape opens towards the Nebrodi, among old olive trees and, on a good day, Etna on the horizon. You drop to the river Salso, which cannot be forded in winter: then you take the winter variant along the SP85b, longer but safe. The final climb, through pasture and scrub, leads to Nicosia, the city of the twenty-four barons, with its cathedral. The stage ends at the Capuchin friary.

You leave Nicosia through medieval lanes and old churches, and then the mountains begin: the Nebrodi, with panoramic paths, woods, gullies and pasture. On a clear day Etna stays in view for hours.

This is the highest stage of the route, reaching twelve hundred metres. Arriving at Capizzi, which they call the gate of the Nebrodi, is where the way closes: the relics of the Apostle are kept in the Chiesa Madre di San Giacomo Maggiore. For those walking out of faith, that is the point of the journey; for everyone else, it is still the right place to stop.

Eight kilometres, uphill, through woods and gullies: a short stage added to the third one if you are not in a hurry.

Aidone sits above the valley of Morgantina, the Sikel and then Greek city that has been under excavation for decades, and the town keeps the castle of Pietratagliata. A little further on, in the territory of Piazza Armerina, stands the Villa Romana del Casale with its mosaics, a UNESCO site. Around them, the Ronza park and the lake of Ogliastro.

The Cammino di San Filippo Apostolo also starts from Aidone: on the first of May thousands of pilgrims reach the saint’s sanctuary in the town.