The Ponte dei Saraceni spans the river Simeto and joins the territory of Adrano to that of Centuripe, at the Pecoraio pass. Despite its name, it is not Arab: it was built by the Normans in the twelfth century. Originally it stood on an important road, the one between Troina, first capital of Roger I of Hauteville, and Catania: once over the bridge, the route followed the Simeto downstream of Adrano and Paternò, watched by the keeps of those towns and that of Motta.
What to see
Forgotten over time and destroyed several times, of the old bridge it keeps only the largest arch, the central one, which is pointed. The others, a smaller pointed one and a round one, were carried away by the flood of 1948 and then rebuilt in forms different from the original.
Beneath the bridge the river runs through a stretch of the lava gorges: a basalt formation due to flows older than Etna, which the Simeto has carved out by erosion. Since 2000 the place has been part of the site of Community interest called precisely «Forre laviche del Simeto».
Visiting
The bridge is in open country, along the river: access and the condition of the paths should be checked on the spot.
Our editors' tip
Look at the bridge together with the castles. The Norman keeps of Adrano, Paternò and Motta and this crossing are parts of the same system: the towers gave military control of the road the bridge served. In 2015 a national newspaper placed it among the thirty most beautiful bridges in Italy.
