Created in the 1950s as a reforestation project to curb erosion of gypsum-sulfur soils, today it forms the largest equipped forest area in the Nisseno. Beneath the aromatic canopies, visitors will find 55 grills, 45 tables, and over 500 seats at 400 meters above sea level—an ideal summer refuge from the surrounding hot plateaus. Dirt paths and forest tracks form cycling and trekking loops that reach Monte Gabbara, Pizzo Cioccafa, and the old Persico sulfur mine, offering views ranging from 250 to 612 meters in altitude, with gentle slopes suitable even for families.
Clearings host strawberry trees, mastic, and rosemary, while in cooler areas grow hackberry, downy oak, and, in spring, carpets of asphodel. At dawn, one may catch sight of a kestrel’s low flight or a hoopoe darting from the rosy trunks of eucalyptus trees; after sunset, the woods echo with the calls of barn owls and field crickets. Along the trails, dense screens of broom alternate with terraces of abandoned fields where wild orchids (Ophrys fusca, Serapias lingua) thrive, along with tufts of esparto grass shining silver in the sirocco wind. Here and there emerge the remains of 1960s forest huts and the dry-stone walls that once bordered old vineyards, reminders of the 19th-century rural colonization of the district.
The area, open year-round, is equipped with solar-powered lighting and educational panels on local wildlife and the sulfur cycle—a tangible memory of the mining economy that shaped these hills until the 1980s. In summer, Mustigarufi becomes the stage for green events: from stargazing walks to the “Eucalipto Fest” with essential oil distillation workshops, and trail races connecting the park to Lake Sfondato Nature Reserve. In a single walk, visitors experience the shady embrace of a naturalized imported forest, the social history of reforestation, and the boundless golden horizons of Sicily’s central hills, discovering that Mustigarufi is much more than a picnic area: it is a green bridge between mining memory, environmental protection, and a new form of slow tourism.