Enna, Leonforte, & Agira: The Heart of Venticinque Territory
After many miles (and days) of driving, I have finally arrived in Enna, the province (and city) that sits right in the center of the island of Sicily. After taking the ferry from the mainland and making my way through Messina and Catania, I drove through a crazy tropical thunderstorm on my way to get here— it was one of those situations where the palm trees blew sideways, I couldn’t see a thing, and I had to squeeze under a bridge along with a couple other cars seeking refuge.
Somewhere between Catania & Enna…
But it was all worth it when, driving through the countryside, I approached a vision of majestic beauty: a rugged mountain top with a city nestled in its rock face, with a misty cloak of clouds wrapped around it. Truly, it was like nothing I’d ever seen before, and I couldn’t believe my luck with I realized that what I was seeing was Enna, the place I was headed.
A few years ago, someone tipped me off to the idea that this region of Italy may be the starting point for the Venticinque story. Ever since then, I’ve been trying to figure out if that is actually true— and my research thus far seems to support this theory. The main town I’d been hoping to visit for years is called Leonforte (which means “strong lion”), a relatively small community outside the larger city of Enna. I had been hoping for the longest time to spend a month in Leonforte, renting a room and acclimating to the community so that I could begin to explore and get to know people. However, for this trip I opted to stay in Enna since it was easier to find accommodation— in fact, it was difficult to find any place to stay at all in Leonforte . What I didn’t expect was not only for Leonforte to be bigger than I’d thought, but also I didn’t anticipate that Enna would be such a majestic, historically significant, and vibrant city. Stone streets, a mix of clouds & fog hanging in the air… this is what I found when I arrived at my hotel:
Not bad for a balcony view of a $35/night hotel room, right? It was pretty amazing.
Enna served as the perfect launching spot for my research— I loved its moody vibe and also it was really easy to access the nearby villages. It’s definitely where I will be returning to for my next round, and I can’t wait to get back.
Hotel Sicila, my Enna home.