… because this view of the white cliffs of southern Sicily always takes my breath away.

La Scala dei Turchi, or Stairs of the Turks, are made of a hard-mud material that is a combination of calcium carbonate and lime mixed with other types of clay and silt, called marl or marlstone.

A popular swimming spot, La Scala dei Turchi, in Realmonte, near Agrigento, was named after a local legend that recounts when Saracen, or Turkish, pirates scaled the white cliffs that pour like stairs into the Africa-facing sea.