Fondachelli-Fantina in the context of "Metropolitan City of Messina"

Archaeoastronomy (also spelled archeoastronomy) is the interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary study of how people in the past "have understood the phenomena in the sky, how they used these phenomena and what role the sky played in their cultures". Clive Ruggles argues it is misleading to consider archaeoastronomy to be the study of ancient astronomy, as modern astronomy is a scientific discipline, while archaeoastronomy considers symbolically rich cultural interpretations of phenomena in the sky by other cultures. It is often twinned with ethnoastronomy, the anthropological study of skywatching in contemporary societies. Archaeoastronomy is also closely associated with historical astronomy, the use of historical records of heavenly events to answer astronomical problems and the history of astronomy, which uses written records to evaluate past astronomical practice.

Archaeoastronomy uses a variety of methods to uncover evidence of past practices including archaeology, anthropology, astronomy, statistics and probability, and history. Because these methods are diverse and use data from such different sources, integrating them into a coherent argument has been a long-term difficulty for archaeoastronomers. Archaeoastronomy fills complementary niches in landscape archaeology and cognitive archaeology. Material evidence and its connection to the sky can reveal how a wider landscape can be integrated into beliefs about the cycles of nature, such as Mayan astronomy and its relationship with agriculture. Other examples which have brought together ideas of cognition and landscape include studies of the cosmic order embedded in the roads of settlements.

Speleology (from Ancient Greek σπήλαιον (spḗlaion) 'cave' and -λογία (-logía) 'study of') is the scientific study of caves and other karst features, as well as their composition, structure, physical properties, history, ecology, and the processes by which they form (speleogenesis) and change over time (speleomorphology). The term speleology is also sometimes applied to the recreational activity of exploring caves, but this is more properly known as caving, potholing (British English), or spelunking (United States and Canadian English). Speleology and caving are often connected, as the physical skills required for in situ study are the same.

Speleology is a cross-disciplinary field that combines the knowledge of chemistry, biology, geology, physics, meteorology, and cartography to develop portraits of caves as complex, evolving systems.

The Rocca di Novara (also called “Rocca di Salvatesta” and “Cervino di Sicilia”) is a peak in the Peloritani mountains, situated in the northeastern part of Sicily, between the territories of Novara di Sicilia and Fondachelli-Fantina from where trails start to its top. It has an elevation of 1,340 meters above sea level. It resembles a Dolomites peak and because of this and the panoramic view from its summit it is a popular mountain with tourists. A summit cross with a figure of Jesus lies at its top. An annual pilgrimage to the summit is made by Christians on 18 August to celebrate a mass. Pits used by ancient people to collect snow for the summer remain on its slopes.The walls of the mountain resemble a human face from a particular point of view and the ancient legend of buried treasure on it, discoverable by those who pass a series of trials, gives it an air of mystery. The mountain has been granted Site of Community Importance status.

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  The Mountain seen from the high Patrì river
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  white Rocca Salvatesta, 1340 m
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  Rocca Salvatesta north side seen from nature reserve of Marinello