A castle and cave houses carved into the sandstone rock
Sperlinga, in the province of Enna, is built around a great sandstone rock on which stands a castle carved directly into the stone: stables, prisons, granaries and stairways are hollowed out of the rock, with the towers built above. From the top, reached by a steep staircase carved into the cliff, the view sweeps over the Nebrodi mountains and Etna.
The castle is famous for a story of the Sicilian Vespers, the revolt against the French in 1282: Sperlinga was the only town that gave refuge to the French, as recalled by the Latin inscription at the entrance, "Quod Siculis placuit sola Sperlinga negavit" (What pleased the Sicilians, only Sperlinga refused). Below the castle, the cave houses of the Borgo quarter were inhabited until the 1960s and now house a small ethnographic museum.
Tip: in August the town celebrates the Sagra del Tortone, a sweet fried dough; Sperlinga is on the road between the Madonie and the Nebrodi.
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