Madonie

The Madonie mountain range is one of the principal mountain groups in Sicily, and form part of the Sicilian portion of the Apennines. They were safeguarded in 1989 by the formation of the Parco delle Madonie. Within the park area there are outcrops of rocks which have been dated over a 200-million-year period and represent all aspects of the geology of Sicily apart from the current volcanic activity. The collaboration of the Madonie Park authorities and the European GeoParks association has allowed the research of students and lecturers of Palermo University Department of Geology and Geodesy; in-depth guides have been written and educational paths mapped out with signs erected with information on the ground.

There is a wide range of fossils that are present within the mountains' rocks. The buildings that are made from these rocks over the years that form the structure of the towns in the Madonie are full of visible fossils; there are fossils in church stone columns, external steps, wall stones and other limestone structures.

Many scholars over the years have concentrated on this area and it attracts geologists from all over the world.