A top a steep and solitary rock, at over 750 metres above sea level, a short distance from the coast, on the north versant of the mountains, Pollina is one of the most picturesque communes in the Madonie Park, thanks to its panoramic position and its particular layout with little houses piled up on one another almost as if they were seeking shelter and protection from the immense space between sky, sea and land that extends all around.

Pollina is 94 kilometres from Palermo. It has just over three thousand inhabitants, but the number increases considerably in summer: a lot of holiday makers come there because of the healthy air and the favourable position, which makes it possible to enjoy both sea and mountains.

Pollina also has a coastal hamlet Finale, which developed around one of the lookout towers that served to warn the local population of any danger coming from the sea.

HISTORICAL OUTLINE

According to some historians, Pollina is the modern descendant of the Greek town of Apollonia, consecrated to the god of light, poetry and divination, but there are no documents or archaeological finds that can corroborate this thesis.

In the folk tradition the foundation of Pollina is a gesture of love: Donna Pollina, a Norman princess, falls in love with the Arab vizier Ayub; their love is violently opposed by their families and so they are forced to run away, inaugurating the tradition of the shotgun wedding. They flee from land to land looking for a place that is safe and at the same time beautiful and romantic, suited to their love. After wandering for a long time they fall in love with this peak, and here they build an imposing and impregnable castle.

In effect, the first certain notices come from much later than the Greek period and date from 1082, the year in which the Polla farmstead is mentioned among the properties of the Troina diocese. Having gone subsequently to the Cefalu diocese, it was ceded by the latter to the Ventimiglia  family, which in practice controlled all the Madonie territory, in 1321.

Thanks to the Ventimiglias and another rich local family, the Minnecis, Pollina was able to develop economically and socially: the period of greatest splendour was the 16th century. As long ago as 1600 the site where Finale now stands was identified as a place of delights, a place to spend winter away from the harsh Madonie weather, and one where the torrid Sicilian summer is mitigated by light sea breezes. D'Amico (1740) says: "There is a very recent habitation of the Marquis of Geraci, who is the seignior of the place, with an inspection tower on a high rock also named by the Marquis." At that time it already had an overall plan, perhaps spontaneously made or perhaps suggested by the Marquis: "He began to build the village around it ... with straight streets traced out"

In Latin it was called Finalis Statio: the final station at the confines of the Madonie county. Still today, as the Ventimiglias rightly noticed in the 17th century, Finale is a place of delights, the ideal place for a holiday and for enjoying the sea.

MONUMENTS

The main religious edifice at Pollina is the cathedral church, built, according to some, on the dilapidated structures of a temple of Apollo and profoundly modified in the 16th century. Dedicated to SS John and Paul, the church contains much of the Pollina artistic patrimony.

The two most outstanding pieces are two masterpieces by Antonello Gagini, appreciated by Gioacchino Di Marzo, a Sicilian art scholar who in a book devoted to the sculptures and to the family of artists, defines them "divine sculpture": a Nativity (1526) and a sculptural group showing the Virgin with St. Joseph and BabyJesus.The same sculptor is also to be credited with the Madonna of Graces (1515) done on a commission from an important Pollina family, the Minnecis, who a couple of years later also ordered a fine marble tabernacle which contains the low-relief.

Francesco Laurana more or less certainly did the statue of the Virgin with Baby Jesus known as the Bald Madonna. According to a popular tradition, this statue originally depicted Ceres, a pagan divinity, and was later remodelled to represent the Virgin Mary.

Other interesting churches are San Giuliano, dedicated to the patron saint of Pollina, in the lower part of the village, an example of Romanesque architecture (unfortunately altered in the 19th century); Sant'Antonio and San Pietro. The latter was done in the 12th century but there are only a few traces of the original architecture in the apsidal part, because of major alterations made in the 19th century.

On top of the peak was the castle; there are only a few ruins left of it, though the square tower still rises imposingly. This tower was the first astronomical observatory in the Renaissance: in 1548-1550 the great Messina scientist Francesco Mauroli-co used it for this purpose. Thanks to his observations, the Alphonsine Tables, the calendar used since the 13th century, were corrected.

It was a Venetian architect, Antonio Foscari, who did the project enacted in 1978 for the modern Pietrarosa amphitheatre, built at the foot of the medieval tower of the Ventimiglia castle. The theatre was given this name

because of the peculiar colour not only in the stone used but also in the whole mountain on which the village stands, a rock of a dolomitic type that at sunset takes on a peculiar pink colour.The structure, which can seat about a thousand spectators, is perfectly integrated in the urban context and is done as our Greek ancestors would have done it centuries ago, following the lie of the land and affording a spectacular view of the Madonie.

On a rock spur soaring up over an incredibly transparent sea the gaze roams from Cefalu to Capo D'Orlan-do. Here rises the tower of the Marquis, originally built both for defence of the sea and against pirates and to protect the so-called stones of the little harbour (Scoglio Grande). Behind the Baglio (now Cortile Caretteri) which was the emporium there was the harbour where Madonie produce was brought. The villa of the Ven-timiglias (the Palazzo) reflects the decision of the seigniors of the Madonie to move from the mountains to the sea.

It indicates that in the 18th century the times were over, when it was necessary to perch up on the rocks and that it was necessary to be in touch with the sea, commerce and communication.

TRADITION AND FOLKLORE

The main feast for the people of Pollina is the one in honour of the patron saint St. Julian, with celebrations lasting three days in July.

The most significant moments in it are the rural procession and the flour procession.

The rural procession is a long, tiring and fascinating one. Its protagonist is the statue of the saint, which is taken out of the church dedicated to him and placed on a bier together with a relic and carried around the village. About twenty barefoot bearers, wearing typical festive costumes, carry the statue along the narrow and winding streets of the village, accompanied by a lot of devout people, including many women, also barefoot.

After going round the village, the procession moves to the Sant'Antonio area, along a difficult path immersed in vegetation. Here the fields are blessed, and then the procession goes back to the church.

On the way back, the saint is turned round from time to time, so that he can look towards the coast and also bless the Finale hamlet

The ecclesiastic authorities do not take part in the flour procession: although it is held during the celebrations for St. Julian, it is a propitiatory feast, a leftover from old peasant customs.

Although there are hardly any more of the barded animals - donkeys, mules, horses - that once made the cortege very picturesque, it is still quite charming because of the presence of a great number of faithful people who, as a sign of devotion, buy big candles that, after going round with them on a long and tiring journey, they will donate to the saint at the cathedral church.

The calendar of Pollina events also includes: the manna festival, on the last Sunday in August, in honour of one of the products that is most typical of the area; Carnival (at Pollina and Finale); the Good Friday procession; the feast of the Madonna of the Letter and Ascension in August (Finale).

Lastly, during the summer the local council organises a rich theatrical season, with music and cabaret, at the Pietrarosa theatre.

NATURAL ENVIRONMENT

An efficacious ingredient in popular medicine, manna possesses properties that are now to a great extent recognised by official medicine too.

It can be used as a laxative or purgative, as a sedative for coughs, and also as a sweetener in some foodstuffs.

The ash woods are not the only thing making the surrounding areas interesting. In the local territory (and in that of nearby Castelbuono and San Mauro Castelverde) there flows the river Pollina which in its progress towards the sea has hewn out fascinating gorges in the rock, the scxalled Tiberio Gorges, which you can now get to thanks to an easy path that, partly cut out as steps in the rock, goes down to the riverbed.

Also well worth a visit is the area of Serra Daino (550 metres above sea level).

This is a true botanic garden of Mediterranean plants: cork oaks, wild olive trees, lentisks, strawberry trees, broom, ilex oaks and myrtles live together in a maquis that is evolving into a forest The area is incredibly rich in wild orchids.

The clear azure sea is a succession of little bays surrounded by imposing cliffs.

HANDICRAFT

As the tradition of the trousseau has been kept alive, almost all women know how to embroider with ancient skill.

Sheets, bedspreads, towels, table-centres, embroideries and various forms of lace are part of daily life and at the same time of a fairytale world.

Since they are made almost entirely for personal use, it is not easy to buy them, but you just have to ask and get familiar with people in order to discover incredible treasures and to find women willing to make them on demand.

TYPICAL PRODUCTS

We can also mention manna among many alimentary specialities: few country people still have the necessary skill to extract from the ash tree the lymph that, solidifying in the torrid summer air of Sicily, will become manna.

Ancient Greek, Roman and Arab therapeutists called it honeydew or secretion of the stars, failing to accept that a humble plant produced it: only Heaven could create it.

Until a hundred years ago it was produced in many regions; today it is a residual culture; only Pollina and Castelbuono country people still know the refined techniques for obtaining it, so in this way the territory has become a true open-air museum.

The original product and its derivatives can be bought in the village (to know more about it you can also visit the local manna museum).