inland
Nebrodi Park
86,000 hectares of beech forests, lakes and pastures behind the coast: in an hour's drive you go from sea level to 1,300 metres.
- Lago Biviere
- Catafurco waterfall
- Villages and beech forests
Sicily's largest park
Eighty-six thousand hectares, established in 1993: the Nebrodi Park is the island's largest protected area, and it begins behind the hills of Capo d'Orlando. In an hour's drive you go from sea level to the 1,847 metres of Monte Soro, the range's highest peak, through beech forests that are among the southernmost in Europe.
Lago Biviere and the Rocche del Crasto
At 1,278 metres, the Biviere di Cesarò is a sheet of water ringed by beech trees with Etna behind it: in summer horses graze freely there, and the loop is easy enough for families. On the other flank, the Rocche del Crasto are a limestone wall where the griffon vulture nests again, reintroduced after disappearing from Sicily. The lake loop → · Monte Soro and the two lakes →
The villages
San Marco d'Alunzio, with its churches and local red marble, one of Italy's most beautiful villages. Naso, home of San Cono. Galati Mamertino and Longi, the starting points for the Catafurco waterfall — Galati holds the Feast of the Three Saints from 23 to 26 August, one of the most attended in the Nebrodi. Alcara Li Fusi beneath the Rocche. San Fratello, with its horses and Holy Week rites. Mistretta, Ucria, Cesarò: each with its feast, its food festival and its saint. The calendar of feasts →
What you eat up here
Nebrodi provola and black pork, both Slow Food Presidia; porcini and chestnuts in autumn; hazelnuts; ricotta made fresh in the early morning. Mountain agriturismi work by reservation: call in the morning for the evening. Local produce →
Visiting from Capo d'Orlando
You need a car: public transport doesn't really reach into the park. The roads are mountain roads, narrow and full of bends, so allow more time than your sat-nav suggests. Fill up in the valley: petrol stations are scarce up here. And bring a jacket even in August — at 1,300 metres the evening turns genuinely cool. If you prefer two wheels: the Nebrodi by e-bike →
Trails on Nebrodi Park
- Catafurco waterfallEasy to moderate · 1:30 h round trip · 180 m
The outing that rescues a sirocco afternoon: half an hour's walk to a thirty-metre waterfall plunging into a rock pool.
- Lago Biviere and Portella Femmina MortaEasy · 2 h loop · 120 m
A lake at 1,278 metres ringed by beech forest, Etna as a stage backdrop, horses grazing free and fifteen degrees less than on the coast.
From the guide
- Piraino: the Guardiola and the Saracen TowerGuide
Twenty minutes of hairpins above Capo d'Orlando brings you to a white balcony hanging over the sea, with the coast from Capo d'Orlando to Milazzo in view and the Aeolians close enough to touch. Above it, an Arab tower from the 10th century.
- Monte Soro, Maulazzo and Biviere: the high NebrodiGuide
An hour and a half of hairpins above Capo d'Orlando and you're at fifteen hundred metres, where Sicily stops looking like Sicily: beech forest, two lakes, free-roaming herds and fifteen degrees less than on the coast.
- Is Capo d'Orlando worth it? The honest answerGuide
It isn't a town of art and it isn't a postcard. It's a base: you choose it for what you can do around it, not for the old centre. It suits some people very well and others not at all — better to know beforehand.
- Capo d'Orlando, Cefalù, Taormina or Milazzo: which baseGuide
Four places that resemble each other only on a map. Two are destinations to see, one is a port, and one is a base. The right question isn't which is finest, but which you'd rather set out from each morning.
- Capo d'Orlando by bikeGuide
On 26 August 2026 Jovanotti set off from the Andrea Doria seafront at seven in the morning for a hundred and fifty kilometres to Palermo. That road starts here — and it isn't the only one.
- When to visit Capo d'Orlando: the right month for each tripGuide
In August you come for the sea and find half of Italy. In September the water is warmer than in June and prices have dropped. In October, the feasts. Month by month: temperatures, sea, crowds and what's happening.
- The produce of this coast: what to eat, and whenGuide
A salami that is Sicily's only IGP, a Slow Food Presidium cheese, and the lemon that built this town's wealth. Between coast and mountain everything changes within half an hour's drive: what to look for, and in which season.
- The patron saint feasts of the Nebrodi, month by monthGuide
Thirty-three barefoot hooded penitents carrying a crucifix, two giants dancing through a village square, devotees running bare-chested in January. In the Nebrodi they celebrate twelve months a year: the full calendar, and the four not to miss.
- Food festivals between Capo d'Orlando and the NebrodiGuide
On the coast they celebrate bluefish and granita; up in the mountains, mushrooms, hazelnuts and chestnuts. The real sagre of this area, month by month — and nearly all of them fall once prices have already dropped.
- The Nebrodi in a day: what lies behind the coastGuide
86,000 hectares of beech forest, lakes and pastures, with mountain roads that climb from sea level to 1,300 metres in an hour. It's the other half of the holiday, and almost nobody uses it.
FAQ about Nebrodi Park
How far is the Nebrodi Park from Capo d'Orlando?
The park begins just behind the coast: the nearest villages, such as Naso or Galati Mamertino, are twenty to thirty minutes by car; reaching Lago Biviere or Portella Femmina Morta takes about an hour and a half on mountain roads.
What can you see in the Nebrodi in one day?
The classic itinerary is the Lago Biviere loop at Portella Femmina Morta with lunch at an agriturismo; the shorter alternative is the Catafurco waterfall above Galati Mamertino, combined with a visit to a village such as San Marco d'Alunzio.
Do you need a car for the Nebrodi?
Yes. Public connections into the park are sparse and don't reach the trailheads: a car is the practical way to visit the Nebrodi.
Stay in Capo d'Orlando
A base in the centre — and everything else becomes a day trip.
The port for the Aeolians is 45 minutes away, the Nebrodi right behind. Breakfast served early for dawn departures.
Direct booking, no intermediaries · See the rooftop →