Discover Italy: Great Travel Tips - Scenic Drives - Motorcycle Tours - Art Cities - Food & Wine

This tour will lead you to the Alcantara River Park (pic n°1) which is a beautiful regional park in Sicily. Let's start out on your visit to Giardini Naxos, (pic n°5) the first Greek colony in Sicily. Before leaving this village, you can pay a visit to the old town and to the Church of Santa Maria della Raccomandata, which preserves several paintings by local artists. After visiting the Church of San Pancrazio, follow Via Naxos until you will reach Capo Schisò, where you will find the Archaeological Museum and the Archaeological Park with the ruins of the ancient town of Naxos, built in 734 B.C. and destroyed by the powerful Syracuse in 403 B.C.

At this point in the direction of Francavilla di Sicilia. By driving along Alcantara river, you will first reach the village of Gaggi and then Motta Camastra (pic n°2)(pic n°6), a nice village perched on a hill, where you can visit Chiesa dell'Annunziata. The Alcantara Gorges are the main attractions of the whole area, and it can be accessed through various villages along the river.

Finally, you will reach Francavilla di Sicilia (pic n°4), which is the town where the administrative headquarters of the Alcantara River Park is located. Do not miss a visit to Convento dei Frati Minori Cappuccini, which houses Museo della Testimonianza Francescana. You can climb up the hill and visit the ruins of a feudal castle and enjoy the view of the town, or make your way to the town center Piazza Annunziata, overlooked by the sixteenth-century Chiesa di Maria SS. Assunta, and then visit Antiquarium, a beautiful museum where you can admire lots of archeological artifacts dating back to the Greek period and beyond.