Top of the World
The castle of Cefalà Diana, in the town of the same name in the Palermo area, rises near the old Magna via Panormi, the road that once connected Agrigento to the island's capital. Positioned on a rocky ridge in a strategic point for controlling the passage of goods that were brought from the hinterland to the city, the castle was inhabited almost exclusively by military garrisons.From the town of Cefalà Diana, also famous for its Arab baths, a paved road leads almost to the foot of the complex. This is not the original route: the old one has been swallowed up by vegetation. The castle is built directly on the rock and is enclosed by a wall that determines the triangular shape that adapts to the configuration of the land. The enclosure wall was crowned by battlements and has different thicknesses according to the part it had to defend: about 80 cm in the north and east overhanging area, difficult to attack; over one meter and forty in the most vulnerable area on the west side, along the wall of which was built a walkway where men could be positioned on guard.To the south, the monumental entrance gate, now largely destroyed, was a double door inside a tower.At the highest point of the spur, built directly on the rock, the large tower mastra. It is rectangular in shape (12.60 x 8.40 metres and 20 metres high) and is divided into three or four levels, considering the ground floor, two floors and the terrace.Today little more than ruins remain of the castle of Cefalà Diana, but its charm remains unaltered. Like other similar examples, these medieval complexes, being isolated, remain outside the tourist circuit and it is therefore difficult to maintain and restore them.
