Origins and curiosities about the Postoleone gallery
It is said that the Postoleone gallery hides secret chambers.
The Postoleone Tunnel is a tunnel dug into the rock located along the road that connects Letojanni to Mongiuffi-Melia.
The tunnel was built by about 300 Austrian soldiers captured by the Austro-Habsburg regime and exploited for this project. However, it is said that the stay of these young people in Sicily was anything but a bad experience. It is said that the young soldiers went to work every day humming and that they were refreshed at the end of the day by the locals. It is also said that some young local girls were very interested in this company and established lasting ties: at the end of the work some soldiers decided to stay in Mongiuffi Melia, together with the local girls they had known.
The curious fact is that when descendants of the Austrians who had worked at the gallery paid a visit to Sicily to meet the descendants of those who had been so hospitable to their ancestors, they brought photos with them. The photos showed some of the Austrians working in small rooms carved into the rock. It is also said that the Austrian ancestors told their offspring that they had hidden a treasure in those rooms. In 1992, during some excavation work for the sewer system, a trapdoor with a staircase was discovered at the exit of the tunnel which led to underground tunnels overlooking the Ghiodaro River below. Only a few people were able to enter then, quickly, everything was hushed up, and the company in charge of the works immediately closed the entrance to avoid the suspension of the works.
The mystery has not yet been revealed.
