Quarries or stone pits
History, myths and legends of the underground city
In these fascinating tunnels, the history of the town and the work of the "purriaturi" (stone workers) unfolded, as well as the legends of victims allegedly entombed alive in the underground spaces during the Arab period. According to local folklore, ghosts dressed as Saracen horsemen were sighted in this small casbah around the castle of Zabut at night, vanishing between alleys. To ward them off, the frightened inhabitants of Sambuca built a small chapel dedicated to the Madonna della Scala or della Scalilla in the rocky ridge beside the castle around 1550. This chapel was later replaced by a church at the end of the 1500s. In memory of these events, the main street of the neighborhood was named "Via Fantasma" around 1800.
The Quarries among the Places of Identity and Memory (LIM)
The Quarries of the Arab Quarter of Sambuca—places "archaeologized" for extraction, collection, and production—have been included by the Sicilian Region among the LIM (Places of Identity and Memory) in the section of Historic Places of Work. This is a heritage of immense importance, subject to a valorization project, providing an opportunity to define the development strategies of the community that hosts them.
The Quarries
Beneath the houses of the Saracen quarter of ancient Zabut, where we are currently located, runs a dense network of tunnels and large rooms: these are the "purrere", or underground quarries, from which, in the medieval era, tuff was extracted for the houses, which were then built in the same place using local Sambucan blocks measuring 25x25x50 cm. These very evocative spaces, found beneath each dwelling, were accessible through a hole and were used for fermenting liqueur wines or as manure pits and waste dumps. They were revealed in 2015 with the opening of the entrance from Piazza Saraceni, from where one can now descend 12 meters deep into the earth, through crevices, graffiti, and squared stone blocks.
An unexpected surprise in the heart of the village
Today, the full extent of this underground city can only be imagined, but the depths of this beautiful Sicilian village continue to reveal themselves as places of storytelling, mystery, and also present-day entrepreneurship. Twelve meters below street level, in 2016, the "Strade del Vino" established the "Enoteca dei Rossi", a wine cellar and archive dedicated to the viticulture of the Terre Sicane. This location was chosen not only for its high humidity but also because the temperature remains consistently around 11-12 degrees Celsius, which is ideal for preserving red wines. In 2025, the best red wine will be awarded—a red that emerges from the stone quarries, where ghosts once roamed.
