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| Today's plan is to drive the southeast coast of Sicily.....looking for more Montalbano locations, visiting the southernmost part of Italy, and returning to Noto--one of the baroque cities. Antonio suggests stopping for lunch in Marzamemi, a small beach town not far from Noto. One of the Montalbano episodes takes place at an abandoned factory near the sea. In the breakfast room at the hotel, one of the tourist posters shows that building in the background of a beach scene at Sampieri.
The weather is again fine as we head south to the beach at Sampieri. We drive along the coast and as we approach Sampieri, we see the building. It is of course different than in the film...there are vegetable gardens all around it...but we have found it. The beach at Sampieri is a long curving sand crescent....without very much development...and the water is beautifully clear. We head back east to Marina di Modica where they have built a long promenade along the waterfront, with playgrounds, picnic facilities and benches. We take a stroll down the lungomare....and see some people sunning themselves on the beach and the rocks. Marina di Modica looks like a nice beach resort...the houses look well kept up and the center of town is quite attractive....lacking the tackiness of so many beach resorts all over the world. The next town to the east is Pozzallo, a much larger city than Marina di Modica.....but here too, the waterfront is nicely developed and the beach is attractive. We stop at the port and I believe that I have found the location that appears in the beginning of each Montalbano show--a helicopter shot of a largish port town with a large harbor and a long breakwater. Marina di Ragusa was too small to fit the description...I will have to do some more research when I get back home. We pass through the town of Pachino--center of the tomato growing area of Sicily and a dusty, busy market town--on our way south to Porto Palo di Capo Passero, supposedly the southern most point in Italy. There is a big lighthouse and an old tonnara.....the tuna used to run in the channel between the cape and a small island and were easy to catch, but for some environmental reason, changes in the island have meant that tuna take a different route and the tuna fishing has declined severely in the area. We head north along the coast...the water continues to be many beautiful shades of blue and green and very clear. We reach our lunch destination--Marzamemi--a little early so we walk around the pretty deserted summer resort town. There is a small fishing port and the old tonnara has been turned into summer rental units. The town has the look of a small Mexican frontier town and I half expect to see Clint Eastwood come walking into the town square guns blazing. The restaurant--La Ciolama--is set on the main piazza, which is basically deserted excepted for a couple of tables and umbrellas and some flowers in front of the restaurant. We are told that we will have to wait for about 15 minutes until 1:00 but we can sit down and make ourselves comfortable. We write some postcards and people watch on the piazza while we wait....the air is clear and the sun is warm....not too much of a hardship. We have a terrific lunch...for starters, a delicate baked ricotta cheese infused with lemon (Jim) and an even better version than the night before of marinated shrimp (Diana), pasta with sun dried tomatoes (very rich) for me and pasta with shrimp and artichokes (excellent) for Diana. and for a second, we share a plate of stuffed small fish which are breaded and fried....very delicious. We share half a bottle of a local white wine--a truly terrific lunch in a wonderful setting. The only negative is that the staff is not particularly friendly to us....while they lavish attention on the other tables. We still have Noto on our itinerary so we reluctantly leave Marzamemi and drive north towards Siracusa. Noto was destroyed by the earthquake of 1693 and was rebuilt according to a strict plan with the public buildings serving as a stage set. Many of the best architects of the day were brought in for the project resulting in a very dramatic architectural statement, where the various churches and piazzas were designed to complement each other. Noto was an important location in one our favorite Antonioni films--L'Avventura--so I have always wanted to make a return visit. We had visited Noto on our trip nine years earlier, but at that time, we found it impossible to park so we really didn't get much of a look at the city. This time, we park without a problem....and have a chance for a leisurely stroll through the centro storico. The buildings have been cleaned up since our last visit and they look very impressive in the warm sunshine. Unfortunately, the centerpiece--the duomo--is "in restauro" (the dome collapsed several years ago and it is scheduled to reopen next year), so some of the impact of the "grand scheme" is lessened. But we have a good visit...we also get in the car and drive around some of the streets that have grand palazzos from the period and get to see a lot more of the town than we had on our previous visit. Back in Modica, we rest for a while. Dinner is not a high priority because of our wonderful lunch. We head for the internet point to check our mail first....we get charged Euro 1 for about a half hour of time--pretty cheap. We decide to have pizza for dinner.....we go to Bella Napoli--a large, bright downtown pizzeria. The pizza is okay...service is fast. We eat, we pay and we head back to the hotel. We get a good, legal, free space across the steps and get our after dinner exercise--72 steps to the hotel reception desk. |
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