Ferla, Siracusa, Sicilia

This is a photo of one of the central streets in the village taken on our last trip there in June 2001. Ferla is a small mountain village about an hour outside of Siracusa. In the background of this photo you can see the white rock (pietra bianca) in the mountainside that is characteristic of this area. It is a limestone type rock and is used for many sculptures





It is a picture of "uomini senza moglie", men without wives, who spend most of the day sitting in front of the bar talking together and watching life pass by on the street. This is the main intersection of Ferla.





It is the town banner, taken in the office at the municipio.





It is a picture of the Pantalica, located just outside the village. It is an archeological site of an ancient civilization of the Bronze Age. There are numerous caves and over 5000 tombs dug into the soft limestone cliffs of the local mountainside. It is overwhelming to see and basically untouched. Even though the tombs and caves have been pretty well picked clean, it has never been "commercialized" and remains very natural and easily accessible. You have a sense of the people who lived there as you wander through the paths, crossing the river Anapo located at its base, using the scattered stepping stones. You can't help but wonder about their existence and feel awed by the sense of time and history.