Lo Zingaro Nature Reserve in Sicily

November 24th, 2008 · Tags: Discovering Italy · Italy · Sicily

New here? Subscribe to my RSS feed - http://feeds.feedburner.com/MsAdventuresinItaly or receive email updates! I'm on Twitter as @rosso

I haven’t written much about my trip to Sicily this summer, though I have lots of Sicily posts from last year’s trip. It’s also a special torture for me to write this as the first snow is hitting the ground here in Milan.

Last year, there were many wildfires and so we were unable to go to one of the most beautiful spots on the Sicilian coast, Lo Zingaro Nature Reserve.

Lo Zingaro is on the Castellammare coast and has 7km of coastline which is all unaccessible via roads. Some of the beaches are only accessible via the water, or perhaps in another way like you can see below: by horse.

We had left our horses in our other pants, so we decided to make our way to the first beach, more than 1 kilometer away, on foot. Walking through the tunnel towards the beach. Inside the tunnel there was a traditional Sicilian cart but it was too dark to get a good picture of it.

There are some beautiful views on the walk, especially of the Castellammare coast. In the background, on the other side of those mountains is Palermo.

Getting closer to the closest inlet after the reserve entrance, Cala della Capreria.

A view of Cala della Capreria from above. The place was packed full of people, but it didn’t matter much seeing as how you were in the water most of the time.

If you’re thinking of going to Lo Zingaro, I recommend getting there as early as possible as they often shut down the entrance if there are too many people admitted. Also, if there are high winds or wildfires, they may also stop admitting people for safety reasons (as it happened last year). Wear some decent shoes as you’ll be trekking over a little bit of terrain and definitely bring water and something to eat as there are no services inside the reserve.

There is a small fee to enter.

The Official Lo Zingaro site (in Italian) www.riservazingaro.it and some information in English from the Comune di San Vito website.

12 Comments

12 responses so far ↓

1
MyMelange // Nov 24, 2008 at 1:00 pm

Thanks so much for the tour Sara!! Beautiful photos.
2
Joan Nova // Nov 24, 2008 at 1:17 pm

great photos….makes me long to pack my suitcase!
3
Karen // Nov 24, 2008 at 2:29 pm

We are headed to Sicily on Thursday! I can’t wait. Although, it will def not be beach weather– Rather we are hoping to take the kids sledding on Mount Etna!
4
nyc/caribbean ragazza // Nov 24, 2008 at 2:43 pm

bellissima. I hope to make it to Sicily soon.
5
maris // Nov 24, 2008 at 6:10 pm

gorgeous photos! I’ve never been to italy and i can’t wait to go someday
6
Ciambellina // Nov 25, 2008 at 2:53 pm

Your photos are stunning! Complimenti. I particularly like the perspective you get from photo #2.

Keep on keeping on. Your blog is wonderful.
7
finnyknits // Nov 26, 2008 at 12:10 am

Hi Sara, may I please move into the bottom photo there?

Thanks,
Finny
8
Gabi @ mamaliga // Nov 26, 2008 at 5:37 pm

Sara –

What strikes me in the photos (except the top one) is the absence of trees.

Is Sicily considered Mediterranean climate?
9
michelle of bleeding espresso // Nov 30, 2008 at 11:40 am

So pretty! All the blues are amazing :)
10
Marc @ NoRecipes // Dec 1, 2008 at 5:15 am

Wow gorgeous photos. That water looks incredibly enticing!
11
anne // Dec 3, 2008 at 7:06 pm

Thanks Sara for sharing this beautiful post…funny how they seem to warm you up!! :-)
12
Heidi / Savory Tv // Dec 8, 2008 at 1:01 am

Absolutely gorgeous! Thank for the review, I cannot wait to visit!