Excursions Madonie Park – Cheese Tasting & Adventure

Madonie National Park is an outdoorsy paradise that’s perfectly suited to slow and culturally rich travel. The park takes in farms, hilltop towns and resorts. This is an area where people live and work , not just a nature reserve, meaning that you can combine hiking with visits to historic town and some nice meals. Here you can discover local culture and traditions. The first hilltop town being visited is the capital of Madonie named Castelbuono, a small medieval centre. Castelbuono is set amid ancient manna ash and chestnut forests. The manna is the typical product of the area, a sugary extract coming from the ash tree which is used to make local pastries and confectionery. Here a free tasting of local pastries is a true delight. Another hilltop town to be visited is Petralia Soprana, beautifully positioned at the top of a hill above a tree line of pines. It is one of the best-preserved small towns, full of picturesque stone houses and curling wrought iron balconies brimming with geranium around narrow cobbled lanes and a sweeping belvedere. Just out of town there is Piano Farina, a local farm where the farmer will show how to make ricotta cheese where a free tasting of local cheese and wine will take place. The last spot to be discovered is the Adventure Park. Here a full afternoon is spent in straight contact with nature, between air routes of different heights, lianas nets and walkways for a unique and fascinating experience.
Part of this description belongs to Lonely Planet travel guide