According to local legend there’s treasure in the hills of Sicily. A chest of gold is hidden in cave-studded cliffs, and will only be discovered if three men dream simultaneously of its location. But residents here can’t wait for a dream.

Sicilians have taken fortune into their own hands with an ambitious project to boost tourism: creating a new walking route along millennia-old pilgrims’ trails. To many, this effort is far more constructive than bemoaning the island’s infamous history of organized crime or capitalizing on its abandoned rural houses, which sell for one euro apiece as part of a drive to reinvigorate Italy’s underpopulated reaches.