LEGEND
U scogliu do zitu e da zita
Into this big cliff, located around the calm and stormy waters near Lido Rossello, is told about a suggestive love story among two young guys of the place.
Rosalia (or Rosa) was a beautiful 18 years old girl, daughter of a rich man of “Muntirriali” (Realmonte in dialect). One day, when she was returning from a long walk, followed by her nurterer, saw an attractive and handsome young guy, that was bringing sacks full of broad beans.
Rosa was impressed by his beauty, and immediately fell in love. She was so in love with him (his name was Peppe) that tried to go against her father. After all, Peppe didn't dislike her glances. The father's threats, to lock her up in the monastery of the Ursuline nuns of Girgenti for the rest of her life, didn't work at all. The young girl was so in love with Peppe (and him either), that didn't want to interrupt that relationship, called “tresca” (affair) by her father. The two young lovers would meet in secret at dusk or as the first evening shadows fell, in the garden of her family's palace. When Peppe left, the young woman would return to her room, throw herself onto her little bed, and burst in tears, overwhelmed by her unhappiness. Also beacause, being motherless (her mother had died giving birth to her), she had nio one to talk to or confide in, since the nurse was on her father's side. Meanwhile, the girl's father, noticing that his daughter had become pale, sorrowful, and quiet, and hearing from the nurse that she was refusing to eat, decided to consult Muntirriali's physician, “Mastro” Giuseppe Modica.
After examining the girl, he could only conclude that she was healthy as a horse, and prescribed nothing but long daily walks, which Rosa gladly took , though always under the watchful eye of the old governess. Unfortunately, as always happens, events took a sudden turn. When the father learned that his daughter, despite his threats, continued to secretly see her lover, he decided to confine her to a remote and isolated monastery in Palermo. But alas, the unexpected and dreadful news, devastated the young Rosa, who, through sobs, also informed her beloved Peppe. “United in life and in death”, swore the two lovers, to whom, in an istant, a tragic yet sublime idea flashed through their minds. They took their own life, late at night, they threwthemselves from the the tip of Monte Rossello, sacrificing their young lives. According to the legend, some years later, at the very place where the two lovers met their tragic end, two rocks misteriously emerged , as if by magic (or by a spell), bound together by a thin strip of stone. It is said, though perharps with more than a touch of imagination, that on nights of full moon, when the sea lies still, anyone passing near Rocca Gucciarda by boat, may hear the sublime and melodious voice of a woman. They say it Rosa's voice, singing a sorrowful, haunting lullaby in memory of her doomed love for Peppe. This is why, even today, the Rocca Gucciarda rock is still called , especially by sailors, as “U Scoglui do zitu e da zita” (the Rock of the Bethroted Couple).
Watch the video about the history
