Villarosa

The Morello River is blocked by the dam of the same name, located to the west of the town of Calascibetta in Contrada Gaspa, at an altitude of 370 metres above sea level. The construction of the dam required considerable effort. It is built on marly clays from the Tortonian period, as well as white marl and Eocene marly limestone. The lake can be reached by taking the SS121 Enna–Villarosa road. At kilometre 118.2, at the Catena junction, turn right onto the municipal road and keep right to reach the right bank of Lake Morello. To reach the left bank, cross the viaduct upstream of the lake.

Contrada Stanzie is located south of the town of Villarosa and offers a privileged view of the spectacular Numidian Flysch outcrop. These outcrops are found not only in Sicily, but also in the southern Apennines, Spain and North Africa, with thicknesses exceeding 2,000 metres. In central Sicily, the outcrops consist of tectonic layers formed by powerful clay sequences alternating with quartz arenite layers and rest on a carbonate substrate which has not been found at the surface, but which has been investigated through drilling data. The flysch formation consists of brown clays alternating with quartz arenite banks and sands. In Contrada Stanzie, the arenaceous portion is poorly cemented and therefore highly friable. This sandstone has been used to build dwellings featuring perfectly circular rooms and spherical roofs, which are topped with cylindrical conduits that connect them to the outside. The walls and roofs of these caves are made of fine, pale yellow quartz sandstone dotted with rounded grains of transparent or opaque white quartz, bound together by siliceous cement and interspersed with reddish veins. The site can be reached via the SS121 Enna–Villarosa road. At the Madonna della Catena junction, turn right and continue straight ahead along the road to Palazzo S. Anna. Turn right here and continue for about 200 metres until you reach the caves.

About halfway along its course, the Morello River flows south of the town of Villarosa, near Mount Marcasita. This 590-metre-high peak features variegated, scaly clay slopes in striking shades of purple, wine-red, and occasionally green. These vivid colours are often enhanced by erosion, which has carved out large gullies. The summit, pale ivory in colour, consists of white marly limestone alternating with whitish marl. The site is accessible from the SS121 Catania–Palermo road. At kilometre 118.2, turn left at the Madonna della Catena junction onto a local road and continue for approximately 4 kilometres until reaching the mountain’s north-western slope.

Identified during a surface survey of the Morello valley in 2000 and subsequently excavated, the settlement of Case Bastione revealed the presence of a thriving community of shepherds and farmers between the fourth millennium and the first half of the second millennium BC. This community was able to exploit the rich mineral resources of central Sicily, such as sulphur and rock salt, and to develop trade and exchange networks with the wider central-western Mediterranean region. The Case Bastione site is located along the SS 290 road, halfway between Villarosa and Calascibetta, just below the small plateau of Contrada Lago Stelo. The area is characterised by clayey soils now mainly used for cereal cultivation. It enjoys a commanding position over the Morello River valley, one of the main tributaries of the Imera Meridionale, which marks the western boundary of the hilly Erei area.

The mining tradition of the Villarosa area inspired a remarkable initiative by a determined stationmaster, Primo David, who was committed to preserving it from oblivion. Inside the station – unique in its style in Europe – there is a museum of rural life and mining culture set up in a 1943 freight car that once transported prisoners from Rome to the Risiera di San Sabba concentration camp in Trieste. Primo David sought to breathe new life into a place of profound suffering, transforming it into a tool of historical memory to ensure that the collective trauma of emigration and the atrocities of deportation are never forgotten. Also within the station, near the museum carriages, stands a stone structure once used for water supply, based on Arab ventilation principles. Known as the Cimelio delle Acque, this relic dates back to 1876 and houses photographs of the Gazzana Spring, which was used to supply water to steam locomotives. Facing this building is the Monumento all’Emigrante, a monument dedicated to emigrants, crafted from a mine cart originating from the Charleroi Mining District in Belgium: a gift from Villarosa’s emigrant miners, it commemorates their departure to work in mines beyond the Alps.

The hamlet of Villapriolo, located about 9.5 km from the museum train, was the first settlement in the feudal area once owned by the Notarbartolo family. Although the village consists of only a few houses, they reflect the distinctive character of the built landscape through the use of chalky marl – a local, abundant material typical of the Enna region. These examples of vernacular architecture have been recreated to represent domestic and working environments typical of the mining and agricultural period, complete with tools, furnishings and everyday objects. Visitors can explore the emigrant’s house (‘u miricanu), the day labourer’s house, the granary courtyard (baglio del grano) and the sulphur miner’s house, which contains several rare and unique artefacts. The museum village of Villapriolo, with its museum houses and the Villarosa Museum Train, offers visitors a chance to explore the interaction between geology and human labour. Material culture, photographs and oral testimonies recount the miners’ hard work, their living conditions and their deep connection to the land that provided them with bitter sustenance.

The art of wheat processing and its inherent spirit of devotion and propitiation are best exemplified by the tradition of making bread in various shapes, brushed with egg, on Saint Joseph’s Day (19th March). In its transformation into bread, wheat becomes an expression of gratitude for the harvest and of trusting reliance. Bread is far more than a culinary display; it preserves its devotional roots, expressing the bond with the land and its resources, as well as the deeply communal nature of the ritual.

Recognised among Sicily’s traditional agri-food products (PAT), these devotional biscuits or small breads are offered to the patron saint protector of the throat, either in thanks for favours received or as an act of devotion. Although Villarosa is a more recent municipality compared to other Sicilian towns, it has successfully promoted its culinary traditions, particularly in its pastries, including sfilici, vucciddati with almonds and figs, calinoli, and mustacciuoli.

It is worth noting that, in mining jargon, the term pani di zolfo refers to the way raw sulphur, extracted from the mines, was shaped and solidified in order to facilitate its transport and subsequent processing.

Once celebrated as the close of the agricultural season, this rural festival takes place at a Marian shrine located on a hill about one kilometre from the town centre. As a sign of devotion, people reach the shrine by participating in a traditional barefoot procession called viaggiu scauzi.

On Good Friday in Villapriolo, the dead Christ is carried in procession through the streets of the village while a verse composition in the form of a lament is sung: the evocative Ladata. Originating between the 13th and 16th centuries and passed down orally, it has its roots in medieval laments known as compianti.

Morlanwelz is a Belgian municipality in the Walloon region that has been, and still is, home to a large community of emigrants from Villarosa. The beginning of emigration from Villarosa to Belgium was strongly influenced by the bilateral agreement signed between the two countries on 23rd June 1946. Known as ‘men in exchange for coal’, it provided for the dispatch of around 50,000 Italian workers, mainly miners, in exchange for coal supplies needed for Italy’s post-war reconstruction. Thus, starting in the mid-1940s, and intensifying in the 1950s due to endemic unemployment on the island, worsened by the crisis in the sulphur sector and the economic conditions of the post-war period, there began a significant flow of emigrants from Villarosa to Belgium. Villarosa, as a town with a strong mining tradition (linked to sulphur) and a high unemployment rate following the decline of the sulphur mines, saw many of its inhabitants leave for the Belgian coal mines: while they were often drawn by promises of work and a better life, the actual conditions often proved very harsh. The twinning of Villarosa and Morlanwelz in 2002 formalised a bond that was already deep between the two communities, shaped by decades of emigration, the initial hardships faced by Italian miners and their eventual integration. The presence of so many people from Villarosa in Morlanwelz led to the formation of clubs and associations that have kept ties with their hometown alive, preserving cultural and linguistic traditions.