Have you ever stopped on the island of Lachea?
If the answer is not very bad, because you missed a little corner of paradise right in the heart of the fishing village, where the Sicilian writer Giovanni Verga , set his most famous novel: < strong> “I Malavoglia” .
To visit the island in fact, it is necessary to start from Acitrezza, where not far from here rises the Archipelago of the Ciclopi composed of the Faraglione grande , from the Faraglione small , from four other surrounding rocks and from the island Lachea precisely.
To accompany you, you will find the small boats of some fishermen that leave from the small dock of the small port: if you are lucky you spend about 5 minutes of the journey between poems and songs praised by the boatman, surrounded by the beauty of the landscape.
You should know that in 1998 the Lachea Island and Archipelago Integral Nature Reserve was established with the intention of preserving and protecting both the algal vegetation and the fauna to which it belongs the endemic lizard Podarcis sicula ciclopica . But among the fauna we can also include numerous invertebrates including Coleoptera, Hymenoptera, Isopods, Diplopods, Collembola, Lepidoptera and Orthoptera.
On the summit there is the Museum of the Station of Studies on the Sea of the Lachea Island where it is possible to admire a rich marine and terrestrial fauna, a birdlife, a herbarium and also a rich collection of mineralogical and geological formations, and archaeological finds.
But what makes this volcanic island even more fascinating is the legend linked to its origins.
If for science the origin of the island is linked to the first submarine eruptions in the Gulf of Acitrezza, which took place about 500,000 years ago, the legend tells a completely different story, namely that the entire Archipelago came to life from the wrathful wrath of the Ciclope Polifemo which, angry with Ulysses who had blinded him to escape from his cave, started throwing stones at him throwing them into the sea and positioning them involuntarily where they are exactly today.
The beauty of the site was also enhanced by the aforementioned Verga in his major work, where he was able to describe an enchanting scenario with words alone. The same scenario that many years later, exactly in 1948, was chosen by Luchino Visconti himself in his film “La terra trema”, awarded during the Venice Film Festival.
It is therefore not difficult to imagine how this island is considered a little gem that fascinates tourists and locals: let yourself be enchanted by the atmosphere of the place.
Swimsuit, fins and mask are a must to admire the seabed!