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| Today we decide to drive to Modica....about six miles to the east of Ragusa--another of the Baroque towns of southeastern Sicily. We have to do the rollercoaster drive--down to the bottom of the ravine and back up past Ragusa Ibla--to get on the road to Modica. The road to Modica hugs the edge of one of the ravines, at times swooping up and down and always winding. We get beautiful vistas of fields filled with wild flowers of all colors as well serious dropoffs into the gorges. And we catch our first sight of the typical dry stone walls that are so characteristic of this area--walls of local stone, built without mortar and with intricate care as to the design. The walls line the roads, climb to the top of hills and divide the fields into innumerable smaller plots...they are seemingly everywhere. We also get a good view of an extremely high viaduct that carries the main road across one of the deep gorges...the guide books say it is one of the highest in Europe.
We head to the upper town of Modica first and try to find the cathedral. We get to the center, see a large church up a flight of stairs but can't find a place to park so we do our usual circumnavigation of the "centro storico" and after ten minutes we are back where we started. (We do get to see a lot of the towns this way.....over the years, I have become more trusting of the arrows that direct the flow of traffic. If there is a blue arrow pointing down a road, it is a pretty safe bet that it is a through street--no matter how narrow or winding the road becomes.) We find a parking space and walk to the "duomo". It is a very impressive church...also by Gagliardi who designed San Giorgio in Ragusa Ibla. It has the soft curving facade that envelopes the columns, has a minimum of exterior decoration and is placed at the top of an impressive flight of stairs. The inside is "in restauro" and, since the weather is beginning to deteriorate (it has the temerity to drizzle), we get back in the car and head down to the lower town. On the way down, we pass an even bigger and grander church, set at the top of an even longer and more impressive stairway that climbs from the lower town. When we get our guide books out , we realize that this church is in fact the duomo--San Giorgio of Modica--and the other church was San Giovanni Evangelista. In fact, we like the first church better--the style is somehow more harmonious, but we are happy to have gotten ourselves straightened out. We park and walk inside the church.....but as with most of the churches in this area, we find that the outside is much more appealing than the inside. We descend into the lower town and are immediately charmed.....the streets are wide, the buildings are attractive and the city has a more welcoming air than Ragusa. We stop at the tourist office and get a map and some brochures. Since we have a good parking space and have paid for two hours of parking we walk over to the Ethnographic Museum, which is known for its displays of local trades and farm occupations from the early 20th century. (NOTE: Towns in this area use a system where you buy cards and you scratch off the date and time that you arrived in the space....you can buy multiple cards and array them on the dashboard of your car. In Modica, it costs 60 centessimi an hour.) It is a little further than I anticipate and when we arrive, the sign says that it is closed on Mondays--even though the guide books say differently. We trudge back to the car and set out to find the recommended pasticciera that is supposed to have great cannoli and granita. I find a parking space right in front (we still have time left on our parking cards) and we go in to the Caffe dell'Arte. It is a stylish, old-fashioned store, the people are very nice and the cannolo is good as is the granita. We begin to think that we should have stayed in Modica.....and begin to look for hotels. There is a sign for a new three star off the main street and I read about another recommended hotel about two kilometers from the center. We search for both of them unsuccessfully....the signs for the out of the center one keep disappearing and it appears to be impossible to reach the one in the center. In any case, we can't move yet, because we are still waiting for one of the replacement credit cards to be delivered to the hotel in Ragusa. In our search for the hotels, we do find a wonderful overlook where we have an exellent view of the duomo and the staircase of 200 steps that climbs from the main street. It shows very clearly how closely the design of the building is integrated into the setting. The rain is starting as we head back to Ragusa....we decide this will be good time to have a picnic in our room. We stop to buy some tomatoes and bread--stores in Ragusa seem to stay open between 1 and 4--to augment what we already have. We hang out in the room for a while and by about 4 pm, the weather seems to be improving, so we get in the car and head out to explore to the south. As we drive south towards the town of Scicli, the sun comes out but behind us--over Ragusa--there are thick storm clouds. Our drive takes us through a variety of kinds of scenery....rolling farm land criss-crossed with the dry stone walls which changes quickly to steep hills and deep ravines which changes again to steeper but very green cultivated hillsides--all within 20 miles. And further to the south, we can see the Mediterrean coast... As we enter Scicli, the road winds down the side of the mountain into the valley and we get an amazing panorama over the town and its churches and public buildings...all set against a backdrop of a steep, stone cliff. It is quite spectacuar and even more surprising when we drive into town...which for the most part is gray and rundown. The churches are pleasing but for the most part, they lack the impact that they had from a distance. We drive through the town--the main piazza and surrounding buildings are quite grand--but for the most part, the town appears to be pretty dreary. We still have not seen the grand church that we had seen from above and we have made three circuits of the town. But just as we are heading out of town, we make one last attempt and we find San Bartolomeo....almost enveloped in a pocket formed by the hills that enclose the town. Our next destination is Marina di Ragusa, the beach town for Ragusa and the location for Montalbano's house in the Italian television series. We drive along the coast for a long time with no luck, but at the far edge of the town, we see one of the important landmarks--the lighthouse--and stop to look around. The bar next to the lighthouse is called Montalbano so we know we are on the right track. We walk around the area looking for the beachfront house shown in the series, but can't really identify it. But since we found the lighthouse, I feel that the expedition is a success. The dark cloud that had been over Ragusa earlier has intensified and as we drive back to town, it appears that there is going to be quite a storm. We do get hit by heavy rain on the road but by the time we get back to town, it has turned into a steady drizzle. We eat at a nearby restaurant (listed in Slow Food) called Orfeo. The room is pleasant and there are a number of tables filled when we arrive. We are shown to a table in the back next to the service area (Siberia) and five minutes later, a single gentleman (a regular) is give a table for five all to himself. The food is good, not memorable, and the service is okay. It is still drizzling when we head back to the hotel. Tomorrow we are off to the famous ceramics town--Caltagirone. |
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