Do you remember the manna of Moses? Did you know that it is also collected in Italy?

             
Architecture enthusiasts won't want to miss a visit to this delightful, well-kept village: the Ventimiglia Castle, which dominates the town centre, and the Baroque Chapel (as well as some 20 churches scattered throughout the area) are the main attractions, but that's not all. Castelbuono and Pollina, in the Madonie Park, are the only towns in the Mediterranean where manna, a resin (highly prized and very expensive!) produced from the bark of certain varieties of ash tree, is still harvested. The extraction of good quality manna is not easy, depending on many factors: climatic conditions, the age of the tree, the nature of the soil and, last but not least, the skill of the extractors, whose secrets have been handed down from father to son since the 10th century AD

  
Photo by: ilfrassino.it
   
 

Another interesting fact about Castelbuono is that it is the first village where door-to-door waste collection is carried out with the help of donkeys: you will see them peacefully moving with their load through the village streets!

 


Photos courtesy of the Castelbuono Municipality operators 
  

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