VERDURA DISCOVERY TREK
This 6.3 km on-property trek will help you discover Verdura Resort.
Start the trek by Reception and walk down to Verdura’s coastline. Along the coastline, pass our historic Torre, which was built between in the late 1500s.
Just beneath the tower, hidden under the sea, there’s an old port that dates back to the ancient roman times. With the port, there was also an important town of commerce called Alava that once covered the surrounding area of the Torre at Verdura. In 365AD a Tsunami destroyed the town, but some remnants can still be found today.
In the late 1500s the area was transformed into a sugar plantation by the Duke of Verdura to produce sugar cane. A mill was built for the sugar cane production, part of which still stands today next to the Tower. The tower was built by the Duke to protect the plantation from pirate invasions from North Africa. At the time, sugar was very costly and something reserved to the rich.
In the mid 1600s a crisis hit sugar production and the Verdura River flooded much of the surrounding land. As a result, by the end of the 1600s Verdura’s land was used to cultivate rice. The mill that we still see today was changed from a horizontal mill to a vertical one to produce rice. Rice was cultivated there until the 1800s. The land was bought by a family in the 1800s and then sold on to individual landowners. And since 2009, it’s been Verdura Resort.
Trek past the tower and up the hill to our special viewing, where you can see the whole resort. Continue the trek through Verdura’s vegetable garden and its orange, lemon, olive and almond trees, picking ingredients as you go. Learn about the organic and zero mileage food we serve at the resort, as well as our Societa’ Agricola.
On your way back to the starting point, pass the Verdura Stazione, which was built in 1930. The station connected Agrigento with Castelvetrano, passing through Sciacca, and was largely used to transport produce to other parts of Sicily.
Level of difficulty: easy
Time: 1.5-2 hours
Equipment: regular trainers; sports gear
There’s also a longer version of this trek, which covers 7.6 km. You’ll reach a fork in the road where instead of turning right to return back to the starting point, you’ll turn left towards the Verdura River. This extra part involves walking down the river bank until you reach the mouth of the river. Then, walk down the wild coastline, passing an air raid shelter dating back to the Second World War, until you reach Amare Restaurant.
Level of difficulty: medium
Time: 2-2.5 hours
Equipment: regular trainers; sports gear
Both these treks can also be done without an instructor by following our trekking route signs.