December 8, 2015

2107 ITALY (Sicily) - Alcantara's gorges


The river Alcantara has its source on the south side of Monti Nebrodi , at an elevation of 1,250m, and its mouth in the Ionian Sea at Capo Schiso in Giardini-Naxos. On its way to the sea (52km), past the north of Randazzo, Mojo Alcantara, Francavilla di Sicilia, Motta Camastra, Castiglione di Sicilia, Graniti, Gaggi, Calatabiano, Taormina and Giardini-Naxos.

Several thousand years ago, the river bed was blocked by a lava flow from Mount Etna. As the lava was cooled much more quickly by the water than it would have done otherwise, it crystallised in the form of columns. Over the next millennia, the river naturally eroded a channel through these columns, resulting in impressive gorges and ravines such as the Gole dell'Alcantara next to Francavilla di Sicilia where Peloritani mountains end.

About the stamps
About the first stamp, issued to commemorate The Centenary of Silvano Arieti's birth, I wrote here. The last stamp belongs to a series of definitive stamps, about which I wrote here.

References
Alcantara (river) - Wikipedia

Sender 2046: Marius Vasilescu
Sent from Palermo (Sicily / Italy), on 26.05.2014 

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