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Valle del Bove (the Ox Valley) is a landscape that everyone knows and everyone loves. It is that large depression that opens on the eastern flank of Mount Etna, the result of an ancient collapse (or landslide) dating over 60,000 years ago, when the primitive volcanic building of Etna – called Mt Trifoglietto – collapsed on itself. Debris from this immense landslide has been found on the coast, more than 20 km from the current volcanic body, a sign of the immense disaster that this land experienced at the time. Today, however, Valle del Bove is a tourist destination and a … blessing! Thanks to its presence, in fact, the piedmont villages are “protected” from the eruptions that all discharge into immense desert caldera.

Why “Ox Valley”?

The name of the large desert valley that opens in this caldera is linked to the ancient custom of bringing herds here to graze. In fact, while it is true that a good part of the Valle del Bove land is covered by lava rock deserts, it is also true that the tender vegetation that gradually grows back on the lavas provides nourishment to ruminants.

In times past, when agriculture and livestock farming were the main activities in the area, it was not uncommon to see entire herds going “to the high pastures” in Valle del Bove, so oxen and cows were the animals you most frequently met on these paths.

How Valle del Bove has changed

Due to excessive progress and mass migrations, agricultural work has almost disappeared in Sicily. It has been greatly reduced, anyway. The Etna area, now highly urbanized, has seen the figures of shepherds and cowherds disappear.

On the other hand, hikers and scientists have increased in number. Valle del Bove, in fact, has become an immense study basin for geologists from the Institute of Volcanology and an inexhaustible source of tourist itineraries for mountain enthusiasts. Furthermore, between the 19th and 20th centuries, Etna experienced a period of almost continuous activity. The eruptions – both effusive and explosive – have made Valle del Bove an increasingly unsafe place for grazing.

Thanks to the establishment of the Etna Regional Park, this basin was saved from the crazy construction of the 1970s (there was a project to build hotels and resorts INSIDE the valley!!) and in this way human lives were also saved. However, despite having been saved from construction, the valley is now a place very frequented by humans. Therefore, animals keep away…… or they do not?

Valle del Bove goats 2
PHOTO Mabel Amber_ Pixabay

Goats in Valle del Bove

Inside Valle del Bove there are two high rock outcrops: Rocca Musarra and Rocca Capra. Both are what remains of the ancient collapsed volcanic structure and both are inaccessible to people (unless they are free climbing enthusiasts!). Surrounded and covered with wild vegetation, the two rocks nevertheless offer shelter to many animals – mostly birds and goats.

Exactly, goats! Because, since the oxen have left the field free, it is the goats that have taken “possession” of the Valle del Bove. Where they come from is not well known, but we can suppose. Perhaps they are descendants of animals that have escaped the attention of the shepherds, perhaps they are goats abandoned in the valley on purpose because they were sick or old. If initially there were only a few specimens, today they have reproduced and associated with each other to form real “mini flocks”. You can often glimpse them near Rocca Capra (the name means Goat Ridge, precisely!) and Rocca Musarra, but you can also meet them along certain paths in the surrounding area – for example at Sartorius craters!

A nice tourist element

There are no reports of attacks by these animals so they are docile goats, accustomed to meet humans. They are certainly a brand new (and nice) tourist element that makes the Valle del Bove trails more fascinating and interesting. By the way… a funny provocation: perhaps in the future we will have to change the name of the valley and call it, at this rate, Valle della Capra? (photos by G. MUSUMECI and M. AMBER)


Autore: Grazia Musumeci


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