The legend of the 'Treasury of the Rock’

The great natural attraction of Novara di Sicilia is formed from its strongholds: the Salvatesta Rock (1340 masl) and the Leone Rock (1222 m). To visit these two magnificent rocks was created a nature trail that allows you to discover the wonders of the area and enjoy the breathtaking views ranging from the Aeolian islands to the Etna, from the Nebrodi mountains to the Peloritani mountains, from the west to the east...For trekking lovers the town of Novara is therefore an ideal destination.

The Rocks of Novara di Sicilia are rich in rock shelters and caves used since ancient times. The whole area is therefore a real natural and archaeological treasure trove. The Salvatesta Rock is the protagonist of a fascinating legend, the wondrous cliff it would store a great treasure. A guard of this treasure is a petrified figure, the 'wise old man', anthropomorphic figure that can be seen on the northern side of the Rock.

Legend has it that to find the treasure, a woman in a day should do the following: take flax, spinning it, spread it to the frame and weave a cloth. After, she must take the grain, take it to the mill, grind, then knead the flour and make a flatbread. To heat the oven you need to get some wood for seven forests, then they can cook the flatbread, should wrap the flatbread in the towel and have to climb on Salvatesta Rocca. Fulfilling all these operations, the stroke of midnight, played the 100 tolling of the bell of the Mother Church, will throw open the doors of the legendary treasure.

The Rock who indicated the equinoxes

The Archaeoastronomy is the 'science of the stones and the stars', a discipline that studies the guidelines of ancient buildings and considers the horizons to understand how the ancients were oriented in the sky. In Novara di Sicilia the Salvatesta Rock is one of the most important natural equinoctial indicators of Sicily.

The Salvatesta Rock is known as the 'Matterhorn of Sicily' for its characteristic shape, a pyramid-shaped rock about 1340 meters high that dominates the whole landscape. To the north, from the Tyrrhenian Sea, fishermen and navigators have certainly used since ancient the Salvatest Rock as a reference point for orientation on their trips to the Aeolian archipelago. But it is by observing the Rock from the west that you discover its own particular use.

From the west, from the plateau of Argimusco, the famous natural site that has huge rocks with particular anthropomorphic and zoomorphic shapes, the Salvatesta archaeoastronomical Rock has a particular significance. The site of Argimusco is a unique place for its natural and archaeological beauty, attended by the man most likely since prehistoric times.

From the water Rock, in the central of the plateau, you can observe the Salvatesta Rock that dominates the eastern horizon silhouetted almost exactly east geography. This means that if from the Argimusco plateau observe the dawn of the sun at the equinoxes (spring and autumn) we would see our star, located right near the Salvatesta Rock. The sun will rise on the left of the Rock during the spring and summer seasons, the mind will rise to his right in the fall and winter. The Salvatesta rock is therefore a real equinoctial indicator, a mountainous relief which still provides "natural question" on the alternation of the seasons.