Iblea_2025

ITALY.

Via Fabaria Iblea
(Grammichele to Ispica).

21/Nov/2025 to 28/Nov/2025.

The Iblean variant of the Via Fabaria starts in Grammichele, a 140-kilometer route leading to Noto in seven stages, mostly in the Sicilian province of Ragusa.

7 hiking stages, 150.4km, 3086m ascent, 3492m descent, maximum altitude 823m.

Waymarking for the Via Fabaria Iblea (Camino Ibleo).

CLICK HERE for the Via Fabaria from Agrigento to Catania, hiked in October 2023

Thursday 20/Nov/2025.
Home to Catania journey.

Flight announcement for
the Charleroi-Catania flight.

Boarding the plane.

Show-cooking at pizzeria Mooddika.

Ice cream.

Transportation:

---- Ryanair flight from Charleroi (CRL) to Catania (CTA), 16:05-18:45, 2h40, 70€/p incl 10kg backpack.

---- Alibus from Catania's airport to the city, 4.00€.

|---| Duomo Luxury Suite, B&B, 73€/2p without breakfast, Catania.

Friday 21/Nov/2025.
Hike 1 - Grammichele to Licodia-Eubea, 12.6km, +271m, -201m.
The first stage takes us 19.5 kilometers to Vizzini, Verga's birthplace.

Crossing a landscape of plowed fields and flocks, we hear shepherds yelling at their sheep hundreds of meters away. We pass cultivated hills, groves of maritime pines, a white pumice wall, a natural stone staircase, and finally a hiking trail that has likely not been used in a long time.

The final climb to the village is leg-wrenching, but the beauty of the town center surprises us. Many recreational clubs are filled with men playing, talking, or watching TV together. Unlike Grammichele, where young people were everywhere, here we see mostly older people.

Catania's Liotru.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant_Fountain

Breakfast.

Fish market.

Bus ride from Catania to Grammichele.

Grammichele, hexagon-shaped main square.

Crisiazza, San Pietro church ruins (XII).

Reaching Licodia, looking backwards.

Dinner.

Transportation:

---- Bus Etna Trasporti, Catania Piazza Borsellino - Grammichele, 10:35-11:57, 6€/p.

|---| Il Paesino, B&B, Licodia-Eubea, 60.00€/2p without breakfast.

Saturday 22/Nov/2025.
Hike 2 - Licodia-Eubea to Vizzini and to Monterosso-Almo, 5.1km plus 12.2km, +574m, -486m.

The second stage, from Vizzini to Monterosso-Almo, is 15.5 kilometers long and mostly passes through a nature reserve that is a real surprise, rich in vegetation, birds, and water.

It's worth eating a sandwich on the shore of Lake Dirillo, even though it's partially dry. The route becomes increasingly green: maritime pines, eucalyptus, olive trees, then oaks, holm oaks, and fruit trees. Pale stone walls bear witness to the hard work of inhabiting and cultivating this valley, crossed by the river but highly prone to landslides due to its terrain.

In Monterosso-Almo, beyond the main square, there are no shops, not even a bar. But there is the amusing sign of a Conversation Club of the Kingdom of Naples.

Praparing our panini.

Licodia.

Licodia castle, Castello Santapau (XIII).

Lake Dirillo.

|---| Tent setup, near to Monterosso-Almo.

Sunday 23/Nov/2025.
HIKE 3 - Monterosso-Almo to Chiaramonte-Gulfi, 15.0km, +530m, -549m.

The third stage, leading to Chiaromonte-Gulfi, is 15 kilometers long, finally with consistent signage, which here is that of the Cammino Ibleo, CAI trail 803. We descend among the hills, olive trees, holm oaks, a family of goats.

Every now and then, a stone or concrete house, modest but well-kept, with a veranda and chairs, as if to say it's not just a service home but a place to enjoy the place. Then vast hilly fields bordered by dry stone walls and increasingly green vegetation, until Chiaromonte appears in the background. The view of the plain gradually opens up, and during our breaks, we try to retrace the journey of these days.

We arrive exhausted, as always, by the final climb.

Tent setup, drying in the morning light,
after an night-long rain.

Chiaramonte, abbeveratoio.

Chiaramonte, main square.

|---| Casa Majore, Studio, Chiaramonte-Gulfi, 63€/2p.

Monday 24/Nov/2025.
HIKE 4 - Chiaramonte-Gulfi to Ragusa, 23.4km, +474m, -750m.

The fourth stage is very motivating, because the goal is Ragusa. We reach it in 23.4 kilometers, initially in the woods and then open on the plain, with the crops divided into brown and green rectangles. After all, the sea is seen again.

When Ragusa appears there are still 9 km left and becomes more beautiful as the distance decreases. But he lets himself be courted, makes us go down for more than 200 meters and go up 100, immersing ourselves in a canyon that represents the way to approach a real jewel.

Picnic.

"Waste dump forbidden".

Reaching the canyon.

Duomo.

|---| ~~Tent setup near the Romitorio ruins, 4.4km before Ragusa, instead.~~

Instead: Itria Palace, hotel room, Ragusa, 75€/2p.

Tuesday 25/Nov/2025.
HIKE 5 - Ragusa to Modica, 16.1km, +504m, -599m.

The fifth stage is also beautiful, which begins crossing all of Ragusa Ibla, passes through a valley carved by a river and goes up to Modica, another icon of Sicilian Baroque, rebuilt after the earthquake.

Modica, the capital of the Baroque. Having covered only 16.1 kilometers allows you to visit it well, but also to discover that there are two variants of cannoli: those with cow ricotta and those with sheep's milk ricotta. If in doubt, take both.

Duomo.

|---| San Giorgio Modica Hotel, hotel room, Modica, 76€/2p incl breakfast.

Wednesday 26/Nov/2025.

ZERO DAY in Modica.

Modica, as seen from the hotel room.

Modica, the stairs in front of the Duomo.

Modica, the hotel.

Modica.

|---| Tent setup near Rifugio Scirocco, Nanni di Falco, +39 3391684479, 12.1km from Modica, Cava d'Ispica.

Thursday 27/Nov/2025.

HIKE 6 - Modica to Ispica, 22.3km, +347m, -508m.

From Modica, the Iblea continues to Ispica, and for 22.6 kilometers the landscape changes again, totally. This sixth stage is entirely naturalistic, for the most part you walk through gullies and quarries dug by water, with natural caves and rock archaeological sites where traces of men from various eras have accumulated, from prehistoric necropolis to medieval hermitages. It is a continuous surprise.