Baroque tour: Modica & Ragusa Ibla
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Highlights
Tour descriptions
After your breakfast, we’ll start the scenic drive through the countryside of Ragusa with its characteristic low, dry-stone walls marking the boundaries of fertile fields.
Spend the morning in Modica stopping by the church of San Giorgio, which stands in all its splendor on top of a majestic 250-step staircase that boasts a view of the medieval alleys of the old town.
You will then be escorted to Modica Bassa to be shown the lively Corso Umberto I, with boutiques, cafès, pastry shops and different buildings with pre-earthquake structures. Along this street is a monumental flight of steps with excellent life-size Baroque statues of the Apostles that leads up to the post-1693 church dedicated to San Pietro.
After the gorgeous walk, it’s then time to have a taste of Modica’s traditional sweets, among which the very famous chocolate. Granulated sugar, bitter cocoa paste and cocoa butter, vanilla and cinnamon: the ingredients are still those of the Aztec tradition, exported in the Old Continent by the Spaniards counting more than 400 years. You will have a chance to dive into it when visiting a local chocolate factory for a tasting.
Lunch can be arranged at a local restaurant in the historical center where you can try different specialties: local cheeses, the “Scaccia Ragusana” and smashed dried fava bean soup.
In the afternoon, the visit will be concentrated on the nearby town of Ragusa. Take your time taking pictures of wonderful panoramas from the little terraces among the 300 steps connecting Ragusa superior to Ragusa Ibla. Walk through the Giardini Iblei, the pleasant public gardens laid out in the 19th century and then visit the iconic baroque St. George Dome located on a rise to emphasize its great height. Finally, stop at the main square to taste a gelato made from Sicilian wines.
Historical informations
There are traces of the edge of the city and, within the urban perimeter, the presence of humans during the period fo the Civilization of Castelluccio (20th to 15th c. B.C.). It was called Motyka during the Roman times and Mohac by the arabs when the city underwent a profound shift in the way that agricultural resources were used. The city attained great importance in the fourteenth century, when as a personal fiefdom of the Chiaramonte family, it became one of the most powerful cities in Sicily and the capital of a quasi-autonomous state ruled by the Spanish barons. The concession of emphyteusis, or perpetual lease, from the 15th on, introduced a number of privileges that allowed a greater distribution of the wealth that proceeded from agriculture, with the consequential growth of a strong middle class. Modica was rebuilt after the tremendous earthquake of 1693, on and between two deep gorges, dividing the city in two parts - Modica Alta, the upper town, and Modica Bassa, the lower town. Much of the reconstruction was in the form of churches. Modica is also called the “City of Hundred Bells and Hundred Churches”, and It won’t be hard to hear the chiming of bells while you’re there. Once the city was crossed by a tumultuous river, but following the devastating flood of 1902 the river was closed by a dam and its riverbed transformed into Corso Umberto I.
Ragusa was founded as Hybla Heraia by Siculi people fleeing inland to escape the Greeks from Syracuse that will colonize the area later on. It was then ruled by the Byzantine, the Arabs and then the Normans who in 1091 made Ragusa a county. After the earthquake of 1693, the most enterprising bourgeoisie decided to build a more dynamic center on the ridge above (Ragusa), while the other half chose to renovate the old village (Ragusa Ibla). The popular Italian detective series “Inspector Montalbano” was filmed throughout the province of Ragusa and in Ragusa Ibla, Salvo Montalbano-fans will recognize the Cathedral of San Giorgio and the piazza. In fact the whole town seems to be a movie set.
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