The best road cycling routes around San Giuseppe Jato

The Piazza XV Gennaio 1968, paved with travertine marble, is located in the central area of the city. It owes its name to the memory of the day a violent earthquake destroyed a large part of the Municipalities of the Belìce Valley. On it stands the Town Hall, an imposing frontal structure with geometric shapes, interspersed with glass openings, designed by Vittorio Gregotti and Giuseppe Samonà, supported by a portico decorated with ceramics created by Carla Accardi.

*November 2025 the bridge was replaced with a "temporary" crossing that allows cycling between Trappeto and Balestrate again, without having to use the SS 187 as a bypass

What remains of what must have been a village created specifically during the twenty years of Fascism for the workers building the SP2, the road connecting Partinico to the small towns of San Cipirello and San Giuseppe Jato. Four buildings in a row. You walk along the road and suddenly you see them side by side: first a two-story farmhouse, with its classic reddish color, of which almost all that remains are a memory; then another, just like it, about twenty meters away, another at the same distance, and then yet another, but this one is different, larger, more elaborate, with porticos, balconies, and exposed stone ornaments.

Starting just outside the town of San Giuseppe Jato, this stretch of provincial road 20 climbs up to the picturesque Portella della Paglia pass, in a succession of hairpin bends and breathtaking views. The surface isn't perfect, but you can pedal safely even on a small section of landslide, which is well-marked. Tackled in autumn/winter, it almost feels like you're not in Sicily.

Located at the end of Corso Calatafimi and the road to Monreale, it is one of the four historic entrance gates to the city of Palermo, perhaps the most important.

At certain times it can be busy, even with heavy vehicles.

A village uninhabited for decades, ever since the entire population was relocated en masse to a brand-new town. Three thousand people, the exodus of survivors of the 1968 earthquake that destroyed entire towns in the provinces of Trapani and Agrigento. Today, only façades remain, baroque railings, old majolica tiles, a tangle of houses leaning against the bell tower of the main church, and stairways that look like they were cut out with scissors on a sheet of paper. Before the earthquake, Poggioreale was a delightful baroque village, with noble palaces, the square with the club, the inn, and everything else. The ruins bear witness to a tragedy from 40 years ago: fear, escape, separation. A place that, due to its beauty and the evocative atmosphere it evokes, has been the setting for numerous famous films: it is here that Tornatore filmed some scenes from Malena and The Star Man. An island out of time, with the hands of the clock stopped on the terrible night of January 15, 1968.

Piazza 15 gennaio 1968 is the main square of the city of Gibellina, dedicated to the tragedy that struck it on the night between 14 and 15 January 1968 with a terrible earthquake.