One of the most enchanting places in Sicily is the “Scala dei Turchi“. One of the most enchanting places in Sicily is the “Scala dei Turchi”. A rocky wall (cliff) that is reflected in a crystalline sea on the coast of Realmonte – in the province of Agrigento.
Geology
La Scala consists of marl, a sedimentary rock of calcareous and clayey nature, with a characteristic pure white color. This cliff of singular appearance rises between two beaches of fine sand, to access it you have to proceed along the coast and climb up a slope resembling a large natural limestone staircase. Once you reach the top of the cliff, the visible landscape embraces the Agrigento coast up to Capo Rossello.
Etymology of the name
The Scala dei Turchi has a wavy and irregular shape, with not sour lines but rather sweet and roundish. The name comes from past piracy raids by the Saracens, Arab people and, by convention, Turkish; the Turkish pirates, in fact, found shelter in this area less beaten by the winds and representing a safer landing place.
Tourism
Over the years the Scala dei Turchi has become increasingly popular tourist destination. Not only tourists from abroad appreciate the color of the Mediterranean but also those who move from the same Sicily looking for a place where you can spend a day of sun and sea. Attention: recently the Scala dei Turchi has been stormed by the crowd of tourists who have seen photos of this beautiful place in different media. So, I particularly suggest to AVOID the week of August.
Naturalistic beauty
The most interesting element of the landscape is the Scala dei Turchi, a living cliff made of a spur of white marl prominently on the sea, whose layer degrading layers give a very suggestive appearance, accentuated, in turn, by the strong chromatic contrasts. if one thinks of the blue of the sea and of the sky contrasted with the blinding white of the rock.
The form that this monument of nature takes is precisely that of a stairway, where according to legend, during the Moorish invasions that raged in the ‘500, the Turks (so mistakenly called) landed in the territory of today’s Realmonte climbing the stratifications of this crag.
Scala dei Turchi – White Wall
A park dedicated to contemporary art, located in the open countryside and overlooking the Sicilian sea. A breathtaking view from the top of the suggestive Scala dei Turchi di Realmonte, a stone’s throw from Agrigento and its famous Valley of the Temples. This is the place designed to make contemporary art dialogue with the landscape, the work of Man with Nature. A true place of the Sublime, projected on a sunny Mediterranean full of Myth, History and Chronicle.
The space (which consists of a small plot of land with olive trees and a sort of “natural rock staircase” that goes down to the sea) was designed as an “exhibition” place ideal for installations, site specific works, sculptures and as a scenario for performances, artistic acts.
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