Palermo: Monte Pellegrino Hike, Sanctuary & Juice

Monte Pellegrino is the mountain that closes Palermo's bay, the one Goethe called the most beautiful promontory in the world. The Acchianata is the way up: a pilgrims' path of paved steps and natural trail that Palermitans have climbed for centuries to reach the cave where the bones of Santa Rosalia were found in 1624. We pick you up in the centre, drive to the foot of the path, and climb at your pace: about 4 km and a little over 400 metres of ascent, between pines, prickly pears and the smell of the Mediterranean scrub, with the city getting smaller behind you. At 429 metres you enter the Sanctuary, a Baroque church built inside the rock, still a working place of pilgrimage. Your host tells you how a hermit girl became the city's protector during the plague of 1624 and why the Festino every July is Palermo's biggest night. Then the Belvedere, a freshly squeezed pomegranate juice, and the view: the bay, Mondello, the mountains behind the Conca d'Oro. We come back down the same path on foot. This is a real climb, done slowly. The pace adapts to the group and there is no rush: the reviews say so. Sturdy shoes, water and sun protection are the only equipment.