SCALA DEI TURCHI 🇮🇹 SICILY

The white cliffs of the Scala dei Turchi are made of marl, an unconsolidated sedimentary rock consisting of clay and lime, with a characteristic pure white color. It is a geologically known site because it is possible to observe the cycles linked to the variation of the orbital parameters: in particular, it is possible to correlate the variations of insolation with cycles of an average of 21,000 years and the variations of eccentricity of the orbit with cycles of an average of 100,000 years.

The Scala dei Turchi in Realmonte (Agrigento province) is one of the most popular tourist destinations for both Italian and foreign visitors to the Valley of the Temples. The stunning beauty of these white marl cliffs has been forged by the waves and the wind in millions of years and has been the set for many famous films. This page contains all the information about the Scala dei Turchi.

Features

The Scala dei Turchi has a wavy and irregular shape, with lines that are not harsh but sweet and rounded. The colour of the rock is pure white, a colour which, as we shall see, is due to the particular type of minerals present in the rock.

History

The Scala dei Turchi takes its name from the Saracen pirates, improperly called Turks by the local populations (as the Arab people were called by convention), who in the 1500s used to land on this particular rocky formation to plunder the coastal villages such as the modern day Realmonte.

This natural staircase, hence the name “scala“, sloping into the blue water, made it easy to land from the sea for pirate raids, in a place sheltered from the winds and probably also poorly controlled.

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