TWO STARS REBORN

Don’t miss the chance to discover two of Sicily’s favourite Baroque towns on a full-day private tour.

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 a devastating earthquake that struck southern Sicily razed Ragusa to the ground. 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 that has earned the city its rightful World Heritage status. 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 private chauffeur will pick you up at your accommodation in Noto and drive you to Ragusa. Here you begin your day 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 faces and monstrous creatures.

After some free time for lunch 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 are the Church of St. Mary of Bethlehem, housing the Late Gothic Cabrera chapel, a miraculous survivor of the earthquake, and 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. Before returning to Noto 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.