“Together, a dream becomes the new reality”: discovering Gratteri, the most mysterious village in the Madonie

More than a year and a half of work.
More than 50 young people who took part, students of the most disparate university faculties.
Many photographers and videomakers involved.
One big project, the most ambitious.

From May 14, the new tourist portal VisitGratteri.com is finally online, opening the doors of the world to a wonderful gem set in the Madonie mountains.
A project conceived during the period of the lockdown by a literature teacher from the Brera Art High School in Milan, Marco Fragale, a native of Gratteri (PA), now a PhD student at the University of Palermo, who has been continuing his painstaking research in archives for years. and libraries but also sociolinguistic and ethno-anthropological investigations among the older inhabitants of the small Madonite village.

Fascinating tales found in the maze of oral tradition that are explained through their anthropological meaning. Local legends reworked by the creativity of the Author who presents places and monuments with different eyes, those of the memory of those who lived and loved them, handing down a very important cultural heritage, today the very heart of the portal.

In this way, in addition to the landscape and monumental beauties, Gratteri becomes a hotbed of stories and legends (such as that of the Holy Grail included in the book of the villages of Italy) that make it today one of the most evocative and mysterious medieval villages of an authentic Sicily.

More than 50 students from the University of Palermo’s language, communication, graphic design and IT courses were involved in the project, who had the opportunity to carry out their internship at the Webvox marketing and communication agency which created the site. The initiative was also attended by many professional and amateur photographers and videomakers who contributed to providing images and videos used for captivating graphics.

So, after a year and a half of work, Visit Gratteri is now finally online in five languages: English, French, German, Spanish, Italian. Inside there are maps with different itineraries that will lead visitors to explore the places of greatest attraction and breathtaking scenery before even visiting them. Precisely in the Adventure & Experience section, for example, guides will be presented for unique adventures adapted to every need: from the tranquility of a museum to excursions in the mountains to touch the sky with a finger and dissect the origin of the myth: from the petrified head of the shepherd Dafni at the oracle of the Old in the Grotto up to enter into suggestive tales of a Dante scenario where a passage to the Underworld the “Mouth of Hell” is defended by a monster called Macigna by popular tradition.

Certainly the Arab-Norman route to discover the secrets of the Abbey of San Giorgio cannot be missed, a journey back to the distant Middle Ages with a visit to the last archaeological finds, as well as a must of the tour is undoubtedly the Grattàra Grotto (from which the town would take its name), the Mother Church and its treasures, the Matrice Vecchia with the tombs of the Ventimiglia family, the 12th century church of Santa Maria di Gesù.

On the site, various services are available upon request of individual visitors or groups such as the photo / video reporter, to immortalize every significant moment of an engaging stay in Gratteri. There are also various proposals aimed at visitors who love sports, such as trekking routes or the possibility of training with a personal trainer immersed in the heart of nature to breathe uncontaminated air.

Then, in the accompanying persons section, it is possible to request multilingual experts to satisfy the needs of tourists from all over the world. There are many suggestions to spend moments of carefree and information about places to eat a good local dish, a good pizza or have a relaxing aperitif at sunset.

Marco Fragale explains “Gratteri is one of the most characteristic medieval villages of the Madonie park but perhaps also one of the least known with a population today below 900 inhabitants, a historical record never reached before. So, I think the time has come for Gratteri to rise again like a phoenix “.

This project is therefore the dream of a new rebirth for an entire Madonite territory which, however, can only be implemented if there is the involvement and support of all the inhabitants: from the local workers to the youngest, too often forced to abandon the their country to seek fortune in other regions of Italy or abroad “.

The portal will be advertised through all the communication channels indexed both in Italy and abroad, in travel magazines and especially social networks through the Facebook and Instagram pages managed by the young people of the Gratteri Youth Council, many local young people who have become active protagonists, because “together, a dream can become a new reality”.

Below is a video story inspired by various local legends reworked by the author’s creativity and detailed in the History and Legends section of the VisitGratteri.com portal.

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*Trailer

*Video with audio in Italian and subtitles in English