Calatrasi bridge in Roccamena

Located on a hill overlooking the valley below where the right side of the Belice insinuates, the Calatrasi Castle and bridge namesake also known as Devil's Bridge, are located a short distance from the village of roccamena. As with all constructions of this type, the manor had the task of protecting the commercial routes of the area and for this reason it rose between steep rocky walls that sheltered it from possible enemy attacks, leaving only an access road. Obviously the past centuries have decreed various destructions and reconstructions until it was definitively abandoned during the fifteenth century which left only the ruins of the original building.

History of the Calatrasi Bridge in Roccamena

Included in Monte Maranfusa Archaeological Park, the territory was inhabited by an indigenous population since prehistoric times and this is demonstrated by testimonies of that period dating back to the end of the 480th century which lasted until XNUMX BC when the site was certainly abandoned due to some destructive natural event.

However the territory was repopulated in the Norman era even if it is not established with certainty if theorigin of the Castle it is the work of the same or of the Arabs. What is certain is that the Castle was mentioned at the end of the year XNUMX with the name of Calataczarut in a document where the same was donated by Count Ruggero to the bishop of the diocese of Mazara.

Another testimony is due to an Arab traveler who in 1150 described it as a showy castle that is valid to rely on. At the end of the XNUMXth century the Calatrasi area was part of a donation which William II made to the diocese of Santa Maria la Nuova of Monreale.

Further proof of its existence is due to the era in which Frederick II he freed it from the Muslim rebels before their definitive expulsion from the island. In addition to these news, what is documented later is fragmentary and confused but it is known that the building changed ownership several times causing its progressive state of abandonment.

Architecture of the Calatrasi Bridge in Roccamena

Reduced to a pile of stones which makes the task of reconstructing the original plan difficult, it can be deduced that the complex occupied an area of ​​about one thousand square meters with a perimeter of more or less one hundred and twenty metres. Surely the highest part was reserved for residence certainly arranged around a courtyard positioned in the center. The rest of the complex consisting of a couple of towers and a long patrol walkway must have extended all around this main building. One of the towers can be recognized and the only rectangular plan of the others can be guessed.

Il Calatrasi bridge, belongs to the district of the Castle and rises in the valley below Monte Maranfusa gaining the right side of the Belice and certainly built to connect a mill - still recognizable today - and the Castle. It is assumed that the construction of the Calatrasi Bridge dates back to the second half of the XNUMXth century and this is evident from the architectural style that leads back to the Saracens. In fact it is a bridge having a single pointed arch with a so-called humpback structure, just as it was used at that time.

Il Calatrasi bridge he can't not have his own legends also because it lacked safety railings and, for this reason, it was nicknamed the devil's bridge. Pitrè also reports a singular rumor which attests that the construction of the bridge was carried out in a single night by spirits called "fates" who would not have completed the work with the necessary parapets perhaps due to lack of time.

What you can do around the Calatrasi bridge in Roccamena

Do not miss a visit to the eighteenth-century village perched on the hill which maintains the original urban layout with a checkerboard plan. To visit the nineteenth century Mother Church of the Holy Savior with interesting frescoes that adorn the central nave and the various paintings kept inside. The visit of theantiquarium to Piazza Indipendenza, where many are gathered archaeological finds found inMonte Maranfusa area.

How is it possible to get to the Calatrasi Bridge in Roccamena

By car:, from Palermo take the SS624 Palermo-Sciacca and exit at the La Montagnola junction and continue on the SP107 and after about 500 meters take the small road on the left that leads to the Calatresi bridge. To get to the Castle, however, continue on the SP133 for Roccamena and take the junction that leads to the Castle.