Castello Incantato, Sculpture garden in Sciacca, Italy
Castello Incantato is an open-air garden on the western edge of Sciacca filled with hundreds of faces carved directly into the rock. The uneven terrain is dotted with rough limestone heads, some clustered in rows and others standing alone, each with a distinct grimace or stare.
The garden was created by Filippo Bentivegna after he returned to Sicily from the United States in the early twentieth century. He worked on the rock faces for decades, and after his death in 1967 the regional government bought the property to keep it from falling apart.
Some of the rock heads were given names by their maker, such as Garibaldi and other familiar figures from his world, turning the garden into a personal gallery of faces. Visitors can see these names on small labels beside the sculptures, and locals often share stories about the man who lived alone among them.
Wear sturdy shoes because the paths are uneven and the site sits on a hillside with loose stones. The garden is mostly open to the sky, so bring sun protection and water during warm months.
Inside the small stone house on the property, the walls still show painted sketches of American skyscrapers and a big fish, memories from his time overseas. One of his sculptures combines heads with a phallus, and he called it the key to the spell.
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