The Alcantara Gorges, which take their name from the homonymous river, cover the area within the Regional River Park between Messina and Catania. It is a wide natural park that houses citrus groves, olive groves, pastures and woods, and which sees millions of hikers every year. The unconventional itinerary to  the Alcantara Gorges includes the passage inside the botanical and geological park. 

The Gorges are the result of three basaltic lava flows which, once cooled, have given rise to particular shapes that make this Sicilian Canyon unique. The lava stone walls, which can reach 25 meters in height, have been eroded by the Alcantara river whose bed dates back to approximately 300,000 years ago. 

If the peculiarities of the lava rock and the crystal clear waters make this place one of the most evocative of the Sicilian hinterland, it will be its legends to fascinate the visitors. According to tradition, the waters are so cold as a consequence of God Vulcan’s rage who, wanting to avenge the infidelity of Venus, decided to stop heating the waters in which his beloved adored diving.

There is also a myth about the origins of this wonderful place, it was told that the famous gorges were dug in the hinterland of Taormina by the anger of the gods, that triggered the eruption of a volcano to punish a dishonest farmer. It is only a legend but it is not completely far from reality especially when it recalls the existence of an ancient volcano between Etna and the Peloritani mountains: the small cone of Mount Moio.