Calaciura Bridge

3 Minutes of reading

The construction of the bridge took place shortly after the Unification of Italy, when from 1861 onwards the State began restoring and reorganizing all the trazzere (ancient rural roads) of Sicily.

Ponte della Ciura

Before 1860, the road was classified as a mandatory municipal road, as it connected Canicattì, in the province of Agrigento, with Delia, in the province of Caltanissetta. Canicattì built the first 2 km of the road within its territory under the law of August 30, 1868, while the section in Delia’s territory, 5 km long, had already been built before the law came into effect. Afterwards, the Royal Civil Engineering Office drafted the project to connect the right bank of the river to the town. In 1898, the Provincial Administration realized that the access section to the Ciura Bridge, due to its height, could be dangerous, and requested (and obtained) authorization to carry out completion works. From these accounts, it can be deduced that the bridge was built in the early 1860s.

The Ciura Bridge, located in the Calaciura district of Delia, is one of the bridges along today’s SS190 “Sulfur Road,” which links Canicattì–Delia–Sommatino–Riesi–Mazzarino to the Ponte Olivo junction on the Gela–Catania highway, crossing several sulfur mines located mainly in the province of Caltanissetta.

This engineering structure, of notable architectural value, is a three-span stone bridge that connects the two banks of the Paradiso stream, which flows entirely through Delia’s territory before skirting the steep rocky ridge on which “lu Castiddrazzu” stands. The bridge features three spans of unequal shape and width: the first two were built in 1868, and the third in 1932 (oral source). The first, larger one is a blunt arch; the second and third are straight arches. All three spans are supported by embankments, themselves sustained by walls that, following the river’s course, widen into a trapezoidal shape.

Today, this area offers a stopover where visitors can admire the magnificent landscape of the Paradiso Valley, with the river Delia at its widest point, and, looking south, the district of Rocchicelle and Delia’s “lu Castiddrazzu” in the background.

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