Scala dei Turchi

The Scala dei Turchi is a cliff of pure white marl on the south coast of Sicily, at Realmonte just west of Porto Empedocle, and in strong sunlight it is almost too bright to look at. The rock has been sculpted by wind and waves into a series of broad, rounded ledges that descend toward the sea like a giant staircase, which is exactly what the name means: scala is a stair. Seen from the beaches on either side, the whole formation glows against the blue of the Mediterranean and the golden sand, and the line between white rock and blue water is as clean as a drawing.

Marl is a soft sedimentary rock made of clay and the calcareous remains of microscopic plankton, and this outcrop was laid down in the Lower Pliocene, after the Zanclean flood had refilled the dried-out Mediterranean basin. Its softness is what gives the cliff its curves, and also what makes it fragile: every winter storm and every footstep wears the surface a little further. The smooth, sinuous terraces are best appreciated from a little distance, where the stepped profile of the whole cliff can be read at once.

The second half of the name recalls the corsairs, Arab and Berber raiders whom Sicilians lumped together as Turks, who are said to have found shelter in this stretch of coast during their attacks on the island. In modern times the cliff became a symbol of the Agrigento coast through the Inspector Montalbano novels of Andrea Camilleri, born in Porto Empedocle, whose fictional Vigàta is modelled on his home town, and Realmonte has put it forward for the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Getting there

The cliff lies about 4.6 km from Porto Empedocle, on the coast road toward Realmonte. The nearest large airport is Falcone–Borsellino Airport (PMO) at Palermo, about 104 km away. The cliff is reached on foot along the sand from the neighbouring beaches, and a viewpoint has been set up for looking at the formation without walking on the fragile marl.