Why Motta?
The house of Camastra exists since the end of 1100 and in 1267 and it became for the first time part of Carlo D’Angiò’s feud. The village, situated over the valley of the Alcantara, is one of the most typical medieval borough of the area, with narrow alleys and buildings placed one against the other, placed on a sandstone ridge at 450 meters over the sea. In May 1782, Motta Camastra was miserably sold at auction for the sum of 26.409 ounces because of the debts of Prince of Scordia Ercole
Branciforte. You would probably ask us: so why do you want us to visit such a place? Because it is an undoubtedly charming place, and children feels it for their fantasy is immediately stimulated by a stimulant and exciting environment.
The roads which lead to Motta climb the Mountain with narrow and winding curves, but at the end the prize is assured: after each curve, the view becomes more beautiful, with its charming neighbourhoods, until, almost suddenly, you are in front of the sandstone cliff: and there is Motta, austere and sparkling overlooking the Valley of the Alcantara, which looks to the beautiful views with a little bit of sternness that is proper to an ancient and noble place as it is.
In every corner of Motta is possible to take a glimpse on the past, in the most ancient tradition, rooted in and charged with symbolical meanings, that from an immemorial time have a great charm on its inhabitants, including also on Sicilian inhabitants and visitors.
The Nearby
The sightseeing around Motta consents to admire suggestive and natural places, rich of typical buildings belonging to rural life and cultivated lands.
In Motta Camastra’s territory, in the district of Larderia-Sciara, there are the famous and suggestive "Gole Dell’Alcantara": real canyons of basaltic lava formed during the Prehistoric age, after shattering lava flows from the North side of Etna. Such lava flows, after having reached the riverbed, have slowly cooled along the water streams creating the black "etnei" basalts. In the district of Mitogio, in the territory of Castiglione di Sicilia and Motta Camastra, there is a wonderful cave of volcanic flow, not easily to reach, but beautiful called "Grotta dei Cento Cavalli" for its huge dimensions.
At 15 km there is Taormina with its breathtaking belvedere on the sea and on the side of Etna, the Sicilian Olympus, and originally founded as Greek colony and survived until our days. Witnesses of the excellence of the territory, important and illustrious men that through words described the extraordinary beauty of the place:
.... Here you feel like you had lived for a thousand years...
... not that Taormina waits only for me, it waits all humans.
D.H. Lawrence
Should you only have one day to spend in Sicily and you ask me "what is there to see?" I would reply "Taormina" without any hesitation.
- Guy de Maupassant
...The sight of Taormina put us on an ecstatic mood
- Alexandre Dumas
Lodgings of Motta Camastra (ME):
Lodging " La Martina "
A huge sand stone overlooks all the town which is developed close to it. This sand stone is the very foundation of the medieval buildings which follows the diagonal of the mountain, with stairs that cross the buildings linking them to the little streets.
Welcome Home! To create place you can call “home” was our first aim when we have decided to save a little barn which overlooked the living place of a typical rural family, inside an agricultural community perched among the rocks, a condition dictated by the need of defending it from last centuries invasions by strangers, from farther countries, whose aim was that of sacking the fruit of the inhabitants’ sacrifices in the fields. “La Martina” is in street Minghetti: a little street close to Corso Umberto, the main street. Though it is a first floor building, through an adjacent lava stone staircase it is possible that the building itself is projected, with a romantic balconette, on the second floor giving a panoramic view on the whole Etna Valley, on the neighboring buildings and on amazing glimpses of the skyline.
On the entrance, the guest is received in an articulate hall through which is possible to reach the living zone, into which a brickwork kitchenette reproduces with its covers in lava stone the simplicity of ancient things. There is a spacious sofa for moments of comfort and it is possible to adapt it in a comfortable two places bed.
Small and hospitable, the bedroom is divided from the other parts of the house with a sliding doors, defending our guests’ privacy. The vaulted roof has been restored and frescoed with old techniques and materials that give a romantic atmosphere to the whole room, and that let to ear the pleasant chatters of adults and children in the close street : the best way to wish a good day!.
The splendour is all enclosed in the bathroom where the priority has been given to the realization of the sanitation: a huge shower, with a sparkling sink and sanitarians crowned by a luxurious cobalt blue, emerging from the covering mosaic reproducing the colour of our seas, as in the song “Il cielo è sempre più blu” by Rino Gaetano. In the remaining place there is the washing machine of great comfort for our guests. The lodging is conditioned so that the is possible to have always the right temperature: fresh in summer and hot in winter.
Photos of "La Martina"
Lodging " Dacia Felicia "
To welcome the guest a direct entrance to the leaving area inside which a masonry kitchenette faithfully reconstructs with the use of stone cladding the simplicity of things of the past, a large sofa is offered for comfortable moments of relaxation transforming itself if necessary, in a comfortable double bed, the focal point of the dining area is a restored stone oven that represented for the peasant family the heart of the house and the only heating system used.From a small balcony you can admire the magnificence of nature with a view of the rock mountains that crown the village, listening to the sounds of nature and reading a good book.
From a spiral staircase, inside the apartment, you reach the lower floor where a bathroom intentionally flaunted to offer hygiene and comfort, priority for the realization of the toilets: a shower, with a sparkling sink and wall-hung sanitary ware crowned by a cheerful emerald green that emerges from the mosaic of covering reproduces the color of our lawns and gardens in the splendid summer days completed by the orange of our sun.
Small and cozy the bedroom is divided from the house with a door to protect privacy, the roof has been recovered with the reuse of old techniques and materials that create a rustic atmosphere to the whole environment, for the realization of the headboard we have used ceramics that remind us of Arabian atmospheres, a little window from light to the whole environment, we have deliberately left a part of the original wall that can recall environments of ancient times like the rest of the country.
