Quarries: great temples carved in stone ...

The exploitation of the local deposits of limestone are dating back to ancient times.

The period of maximum growth was between 1700 and 1950, thanks to the work of the Florio family. The "Pietra di Favignana" was the material used in the creation of works like the Florio Palace in Favignana and Villa Igea in Palermo.

Because of its hardness and compactness, but at the same time for its flexibility in being modeled, the limestone of Favignana was used for countless buildings in Sicily.

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Today the old quarries on the island are beautiful gardens, dark tunnels, coves full of mystery and marked with symbols that testify to the importance of the quarrying activity.

Here time seems to stand still, as seen from the numerous construction machinery left on site, the tuffs arranged in rows like waiting to be loaded onto carts and then on boats...

The indented coast of the eastern island of Favignana is presented as an architectural disarray of quarries, tunnels, gardens above and below the sea level and that huge gaps in their uniqueness, sharing the landscape to give the appearance of a Cathedral of the sea.

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