The route begins in Piazza del Crocifisso in Riesi, home to the Church of the Holy Crucifix. Built in 1744, the 18th-century Church of the Holy Crucifix is notable for its superb 17th-century black crucifix, created by an unknown artist.

Leaving the church, we continue along Via Duca degli Abbruzzi for 100 metres and turn left onto Piazza Giuseppe Garibaldi, arriving at the Basilica-Sanctuary of the Madonna della Catena ( video ).

Continuing along Via Roma for 260 metres, we arrive at the Church of Maria Santissima del Rosario ( video ).

We continue on Via Roma for another 70 meters and turn left onto Via Restivo Gallo and immediately right onto Via Salerno, at the end of which we turn left onto Via Reggio Calabria, which we follow for 100 meters, until we reach Via Vincenzo Gioberti; after 200 meters we continue on Via Don Bosco, which becomes Via Luigi Einaudi for another 200 meters and turn right onto Via Monte degli Ulivi, which after 500 meters leads us to the Monte degli Ulivi, an architectural complex of the Christian Service ( video ).

Following the route on the map along State Road 191, after 9.6 kilometers you reach the Trabia Tallarita Mine. It is one of the largest sulfur mines in Sicily, where in the past up to 10,000 tons of sulfur ore were extracted per site each year. Mining is the activity that most shaped Riesi’s history. After the 1950s, American competition crushed sulfur production in the province of Nissena, and the vast majority of mines were soon forced to close.

The large mining basin, located between Riesi and Sommatino, is crossed by the Imera Meridionale River, with the Tallarita River to its left and the Trabia River to its right. The mines exploited a sulfur deposit embedded in the sediments of the so-called Upper Miocene Gypsum-Sulfur Formation, well-known and studied by geologists around the world.

In the Trabia mine, formerly known as Sulfara ranni (Great Sulfur Mine), the first mining operations date back to around 1730. Due to its shallow depth, the mineral was so abundant that it could be seen without digging, so a shovel and pickaxe were sufficient to collect large quantities. However, starting in 1830, thanks to the introduction of new mechanical means, the activity took on greater importance.

A village was also built around the mines, containing a police station, a post office, a chapel, a shop, and housing for 300 workers and their families. The facilities consisted of an external tower (or gantry) with a winch that ensured the vertical movement of the wagons, which, filled with ore in the underground mines, were transported to the surface.

The extracted mineral was then enriched in factories that were often adjacent to the mine, where the sulfur was separated from the limestone in special furnaces. Inside the mine, deep beneath the earth, the miners dug incessantly throughout the day, forced to work half-naked due to the high temperatures.

In 1904, in addition to the introduction of mechanical methods, a 10-km cableway was also built, connecting the Campobello di Licata railway station on the Canicattì-Licata line with the Trabia-Tallarita mining basin. In the 1920s, at the height of mining activity, these mines employed just under 3,000 miners. In 1957, a firedamp explosion caused a shaft (Scordia) to collapse, resulting in numerous casualties.

The mine closed in 1975. Today, the ancient buildings where thousands of Sicilian miners once worked are simply excellent examples of industrial archaeology. The remains of the processing infrastructure are particularly impressive, including the endless sequence of Gill furnaces (a more modern system of smelting furnaces). Since 2010, the mining area has housed the Trabia Tallarita Sulfur Mine Museum, a permanent multimedia exhibition dedicated to the history of sulfur mining in Nissa.