Relax with the whole family in this quiet accommodation choose a different holiday immersed in nature away from city traffic,Catania is only 35 minutes away, Sicily out village and 40 minutes away,the center of the village Castel di Judica is 2.5 km away, Mount Judica is 500 meters away Other things to note The mountain that existed before Sicily. Monte Judica, 765 meters high located in the Municipality of Castel di Judica, is among the oldest geological formations in Sicily. It was dated to the Triassic, over two hundred million years ago. It was a small island in the middle of the sea, long before the emergence of the rest of Sicily. There are fossils of animals such as ammonites, which have allowed the dating of sedimentary rock layers. The site of Monte Judica was one of the last to be conquered by the Normans. Historical sources state that the city of Zotica - as it is called in the Middle Ages – was conquered in 1076. All the men were killed, women and children instead deported to Calabria and sold as slaves. Local legends say that the city was conquered by the Caltagironesi, in number of a thousand, to punish the kidnapping by the Arabs of a woman from Caltagirone. Hence the toponym "u Sautu a Vecchia" of a very steep area where the woman, young but disguised as an old woman and named Margiana, would be thrown into the cliff. She had sent a message to her brothers who were in Caltagirone, promising that if a certain day at that time had approached in arms, she would open the city gates to facilitate its conquest. And so it was. King Ruggero had promised the Caltagirones that if they had succeeded in the enterprise they would have the entire territory of the occupied city, that is, the fiefdom of Camopietro, 40,000 dirt remains (from Raddusa to Jannarello, from Libertinia to Ramacca). The origin of the name Judica is controversial, according to some it derives from a Jewish community settled there in ancient times. But there is a cuntu handed down orally that gives an explanation on the origin of the name. There was a man in the days of kings in Sicily just and pious appointed judge by the king for this, but the man was obsessed with being able to make mistakes, the fear was so great in making mistakes that he could not make decisions. He thought that even the most lavish and vast man was always a little bit right, and it could be the ancient gods or deceitful spirits that made men wrong, in short, man was wrong to decide if one was guilty or innocent. A judge accused indecisively it was of little use and the trials accumulated without finding a solution. As he passed by thinking of the difficulties in giving judgment, the man found himself passing through a straight crossroads, a place notoriously frequented by devils. It was precisely there that he met a strange man dressed like never before , red and black with a large hat shaped like a cylinder on his head. He was an infamous devil disguised as a man. Apart from the dress, the man seemed sympathetic and knew things about heaven and earth that the judge did not know, so much so that he convinced the man to exchange for a relatively small sum of money the power to have the security of never making mistakes in judgments. But infallibility can prove to be the worst of damnations, the man saw all the faults of the men and women who met his gaze. He kicked his wife out of the house because he discovered a fleeting passion for a neighbor, he repudiated his son because he had once removed a small figure from a drawer. There was no one without guilt and he now knew everything about everyone, he could not help but express judgments and condemn. Everyone had loved to be with such a man, all the more so, nobles, prelates and politicians who had a lot of guilt. He was expelled from his seat of judge for this and despite himself he moved to a mountain far from men to be laxed in peace. That mountain was called for this Mount Judice, its solitude was interrupted only when someone climbed the bitter mountain to ask for his infallible judgment, But loneliness for a man can become the worst condemnation, desperate one moonless evening he threw himself off a cliff and died. The devil had succeeded in his purpose and had taken the soul of a righteous man by corrupting him with gifts that no man should have. Chistu lu cuntu ca lassai of a man who ends up going. Sources : historiaduepuntozero, com -The infinite stories of Monte Judica; Norman mysteries and legends of Gioacchino Ventre- Ed Cenisio 1962 ; Architect Alba Spadaro expert in Sicilian stories and traditions who provided inspiration and advice. Registration Details IT087013C2QDPAMRHH