Built on a rise in the Sicilian hinterland, a short distance from the centre of Caltavuturo, the town of Sclafani Bagni is one of the three smallest municipalities in Sicily.
The first historical information on Sclafani dates back to the year 938, in a context related to the Arab conquest of the island. The event is documented in the “Siculo-Saracen Chronicle of Cambridge”, an anonymous manuscript from the Middle Ages that narrates the events in Sicily between 827 and 965.
Today, the village looks like a balcony suspended between heaven and earth, perched on a mountainous prominence that powerfully dominates the valley below. The view is breathtaking, especially at times when the starlight merges with the history of this wonderful land.
This image is the result of lengthy planning, designed to capture the moonrise exactly above the settlement. However, planning a shot and successfully realising it are two quite distinct undertakings.
The often unpredictable weather conditions drastically reduce the windows of opportunity, limiting possible Moon alignments to a few days a year. Added to this is the logistical difficulty: reaching the observation point required the crossing of inaccessible paths and country roads, making the undertaking anything but easy.
But every effort was amply rewarded. This view, although only partially rendered by the shot, is intended to share the intense emotion of being in front of a unique natural spectacle, where the moon, rock and history meet in a moment of rare harmony.
Canon 6d, Sigma 150-600mm, f/5.6, landscape HDR 30 -1 sec, ISO 100, Moon: 1 sec, iso 1600