When my wife and I visited Sicily, we made a point of spending a few days exploring the hill towns in the southeastern region of the island.
These towns share a common history. While they have been around for several thousand years, everything changed in 1693 when a major earthquake struck, killing thousands and nearly completely destroyed several villages including Ragusa, Modica, Noto and Scicli. Opinion on where and how to rebuild was divided.
In the case of Ragusa, some people decided to build a new town on a different site, while others decided to stay on and rebuild their old town. The newer community is now known as Ragusa Superiore, built on a high plateau, while the rebuilt town on the original hill is Ragusa Ibla. Most of the architecture is Baroque and it is this which has earned the area UNESCO World Heritage status. The two towns remained separated until 1926 when they were merged into one community.
We were exploring Sicily in a car rental and decided it would be easiest for us to park in Ragusa Superiore, explore that part of the city and then work our way on foot to Ragusa Ibla, the area of greatest interest to us. Below are some scenes from Ragusa Superiore….
Our first view of Ragusa Ibla is shown in the top photo of this blog post (taken from the roadside during our drive into Ragusa), and the sight of the houses clinging to the hill was amazing!
We spent most of the day exploring the narrow lanes of Ragusa, walking up and down many stairs. The photo directly above was used in last weekend’s One Clue Mystery photo. It is the view of Ragusa Ibla taken as one descends from Ragusa Superiore. The site was recognized by Professor Abe and George G — congratulations to both!
We descended a large number of stairs to reach Ibla….
There are many small historic churches which we passed during our rambling, but our destination for the day was to visit the Basilica di San Giorgio, built in 1738. It rests at the top of Ragusa Ibls. Its neoclassical dome was added in 1820.
(Basilica di San Giorgio)
Of the churches in the city, this was the only one we took time to explore. It is a pretty church, as you can see from the photos below….
Near the Basilica is large piazza (Piazza Duomo) where there are several cafes and shops.
We enjoyed coffee and pastries at this great bakery by the Piazza….
And we continued our wandering, enjoying some of the shops and signage of the area.
At the far end of Ibla is a spacious, pleasant park….
Our day ended with a journey back to our car through the twisting streets and lanes. We made a point of taking a different route and and took in more sights of Ibla…..
It was a tiring and memorable day. My wife and I both enjoyed the experience and were glad that we could still manage all those stairs.
