A BAROQUE TRIPTYCH

Don’t miss the chance to discover some of Sicily’s best-loved Baroque masterpieces on this full-day tour of three UNESCO-listed towns.

Meet your private guide and driver at your accommodation in Ragusa and set off for the first stop on your excursion: the stunningly beautiful town of Scicli. Indeed, 20th century Italian novelist Elio Vittorini proclaimed it to be “Perhaps, the most beautiful city in the world”. Its current charm, expression of the creative genius of the late Baroque era, is the result of a lavish 18th century reconstruction following the devastating earthquake that struck southern Sicily in 1693.

A cluster of cream coloured buildings huddles in a valley, surrounded by towering rocky slopes and overlooked by the abandoned Church of San Matteo. On the hillside, a series of cave-dwellings provide evidence that a civilization must have lived here in the Byzantine era and the Middle Ages. However, as your guide will explain, Scicli’s roots stretch way further back in time. Historians believe the town’s name derives from its founders, the ancient Sicels, one of the three main tribes that inhabited the region before the arrival of the Greek colonists in the 8th century BC.

As you wander through Scicli’s alleys, taking in the views of the dramatic landscapes, your guide will point out some of the town’s most remarkable features and regale you with fascinating tales of its past. Among the sights to admire on your tour are the Church of San Bartolomeo, housing Caravaggesque painter Mattia Preti’s Deposition, Via Francesco Mormina Penna, a beautifully preserved street lined with elegant buildings and churches, and the iconic Palazzo Beneventano, chiselled with grotesque faces and elaborate decorative swirls.

A short drive will bring you to Modica. Severely damaged by the 17th century seism, Modica too was superbly rebuilt in Sicilian Baroque tradition. Magnificent churches and finely decorated buildings will strike you as you make your way along winding alleys, up and down stairways, through the two neighbourhoods of Upper and Lower Modica. The Conti Castle surveys the town from the summit of a rocky outcrop but the centrepiece is undoubtedly the Cathedral of St. George standing proudly at the top of a steep flight of steps, with its graceful facade rising into a curved bell tower. Also worthy of a visit is the Cathedral of St. Peter, dominating the main street of Corso Umberto, with the statues of the twelve apostles greeting onlookers from the ramp.

Despite these architectural landmarks Modica’s most extraordinary feat may well be its much praised gastronomic achievements. The town jealously safeguards a four-hundred-year-old tradition of chocolate making, attracting gourmands from far and wide. As part of the Spanish kingdom, Sicily was one of the first lucky recipients of the new exotic spices brought back from South America, including cocoa. Modica still specialises in the creation of rich, dark, crumbly chocolate flavoured with cinnamon and vanilla, inspired by ancient recipes retrieved from the Aztecs. Don’t forget to pay a visit to the Antica Dolceria Bonajuto, a confectionery shop that has been delighting the palates of Sicilians with its chocolate temptations since 1880.

Enjoy some free time for lunch before returning to Ragusa. Perched atop a hill on the southern slopes of the Hyblaean Mountains, Ragusa is known to have been inhabited since the Neolithic age. Although the city’s history stretches back over thousands of years, little remains of its riveting past prior to the fateful year of 1693 when Ragusa was razed to the ground by the earthquake. Indeed the jewel you see today dates almost entirely from the 18th century and is the result of a painstaking reconstruction in ornate Baroque style. Public opinion regarding the most appropriate location for rebuilding the town was deeply divided and eventually led the Ragusans to compromise by creating two different settlements. The ordinary working people chose to erect a new town on a different site, now called Upper Ragusa, while the aristocrats, reluctant to leave their prestigious palazzi, decided to rebuild the old town of Ragusa Ibla on its original spot, on a ridge at the foot of a gorge.

While the upper town boasts its fair share of attractions, it is the smaller Ragusa Ibla that lures visitors with its charming architecture. A meticulously assembled collage of narrow alleyways, steep steps, honey-hued houses, fancy church facades, all pasted onto a background of deep green hills together form the splendid urban landscape you are about to explore.

Your tour of Ragusa begins with a leisurely stroll through the Hyblaean Gardens, the pride of the town. Standing at the edge of a ridge, this lush oasis of palm trees and hedges affords sweeping views of the Irminio Valley below. Your guide will certainly point out the nearby Gothic Portal of St. George, the symbol of Ragusa Ibla and one of the few artefacts to have been spared after the collapse of the original 15th century cathedral. Not to be missed are also two of Baroque architect Rosario Gagliardi’s major triumphs, the Church of St. Joseph and the Cathedral of St. George, as well as the elaborately sculpted corbels of Palazzo La Rocca and Palazzo Cosentini, featuring grotesque masks and monstrous creatures.