Dettagli

Less than half an hour from Marina di Ragusa, the Hyblaean hinterland guards one of Europe's most extraordinary architectural heritages. No need to go far: the **Hyblaean Baroque** cities — rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake — are all within easy reach, and each deserves at least half a day of your time. These are not "out of area" trips. Ragusa is our provincial capital. Modica and Scicli are our next-door neighbours. Donnafugata is practically around the corner. These are places Marina's residents visit year-round — not just in summer. ## Ragusa Ibla — 20 minutes Ragusa Ibla is not a city: it is a vision. Seen from above, from the belvedere of Ragusa Superiore, it resembles a Baroque nativity scene nestled at the bottom of a valley. The church domes, the palazzo roofs, the stone staircases: everything converges downward, toward the Duomo square, in an order that is simultaneously random and perfect. ### The Cathedral of San Giorgio The absolute masterpiece of Hyblaean Baroque. Designed by **Rosario Gagliardi**, the greatest architect of the Val di Noto, the Cathedral dominates the square below with a tower-facade that rises skyward with almost physical energy. This is not a building you look at — it is one you feel. The carefully restored interior preserves stucco, paintings and a monumental organ. But it is the facade that steals the show: at sunset, when the limestone glows orange, the Cathedral becomes something photography cannot capture. ### The Giardino Ibleo At the eastern tip of Ibla, the **Iblean Gardens** are the province's most beautiful public park. Tree-lined avenues, benches with valley views, three small medieval churches nestled in greenery. It is where Ragusans come to read, stroll and gaze at the panorama. Bring a book and do as they do. From the garden terrace, the view over the valley and Hyblaean countryside is breathtaking. ### Getting lost in the alleys Ibla is a labyrinth — and getting lost is the best way to visit it. Every staircase leads to a small square, every alley opens onto a panorama, every doorway hides a courtyard with a well or an orange tree. Don't follow an itinerary: follow your curiosity. ### The Circolo di Conversazione On the Duomo square, the **Circolo di Conversazione** is an elegant 19th-century salon of Ragusa's nobility — still active, still frequented. A piece of social history that resists time. ### Practical tips for Ibla - **Getting there**: 20 minutes by car from Marina. Park in Ragusa Superiore (free) and walk down via the panoramic stairway (15 min), or drive directly to Ibla (limited parking) - **Duration**: 3-4 hours for a complete visit, more if you love getting lost - **When**: early morning for the light and silence, late afternoon for the sunset on the Cathedral - **Eating**: Ibla has excellent restaurants. Lunch here is an experience worth the trip ## Modica — 30 minutes Modica is a city that reads vertically. Built on two parallel canyons, it develops upward with a verticality that takes your breath away. Modica Bassa along the main avenue, and Modica Alta perched on the ridges — connected by staircases, lanes and hairpin bends. ### The chocolate Modica is Sicily's **chocolate capital** — and not just any chocolate. Modicano chocolate is made using a cold-working technique inherited from the Aztecs via Spain: the sugar does not melt during processing, creating a grainy, crunchy texture completely different from industrial chocolate. The shops along Corso Umberto I offer tastings that are true sensory journeys: chilli, carob, orange peel, Madagascar vanilla. A bar of Modicano chocolate is the perfect souvenir — if it survives the journey home. ### The Church of San Giorgio If Ibla's Cathedral is a tower-facade, Modica's San Giorgio is a **staircase that becomes a church**. 250 steps climb from the lower city to the monumental facade, in a mise-en-scène that seems designed for cinema. And indeed it has been: this staircase is one of Sicily's most iconic images. ### The Church of San Pietro Modica's other great Baroque church, with statues of the twelve apostles flanking the access stairway. Less theatrical than San Giorgio, but more intimate. ### Corso Umberto I Modica Bassa's main artery is a succession of noble palaces, churches, shops and chocolate boutiques. Walking here is like leafing through a Baroque architecture catalogue — every facade has something to tell. ### Practical tips for Modica - **Getting there**: 30 minutes by car from Marina via Ragusa - **Duration**: 3-4 hours, more if you include chocolate (and you should) - **Combine with**: Scicli (15 minutes from Modica) for a full day ## Scicli — 25 minutes Scicli is perhaps the most intimate and surprising of the Hyblaean Baroque cities. Smaller than Ragusa and Modica, less touristy, with an atmosphere that oscillates between the sumptuous and the domestic. It is the city where Baroque is not in museums — it is in the streets, the houses, daily life. **Inspector Montalbano** fans will recognise it immediately: Scicli is the Vigàta of the television series. The police station is the Town Hall, the Questura is Palazzo Iacono, and dozens of corners have been immortalised by cameras. But forget Montalbano for a moment. Scicli deserves to be seen for what it is, not what it has played. ### Via Francesco Mormino Penna Scicli's most beautiful street — and according to many, one of Sicily's most beautiful. Declared a UNESCO heritage site, it is a succession of Baroque palazzi with **belly-shaped balconies** (convex), sculpted corbels with grotesque masks and putti, golden stone facades that glow like gold at sunset. ### Palazzo Beneventano Scicli's most famous Baroque palazzo, with grotesque sculptures flanking the doorway: monstrous figures, blindfolded Moors, fantastical animals. This is Baroque that does not aim to be beautiful — it aims to be powerful. And it succeeds. ### Church of San Bartolomeo Set within a natural gorge between two rock walls, the Church of San Bartolomeo seems to emerge from the mountain itself. The facade, framed by rocks like a natural picture frame, is one of the most evocative sights in the entire Val di Noto. ### Practical tips for Scicli - **Getting there**: 25 minutes by car from Marina - **Duration**: 2-3 hours - **The tip**: climb **Colle di San Matteo** for the panoramic view over the whole city ## Donnafugata Castle — 15 minutes Just fifteen minutes from Marina di Ragusa, **Donnafugata Castle** is the area's hidden gem. Don't expect a medieval castle: it is a **19th-century noble residence** in Neo-Gothic style, with loggias, turrets and grounds that seem to have stepped out of a novel. The name has nothing to do with fleeing women: it derives from the Arabic *Ain as-Jafat*, "the spring of health". The castle has over 120 rooms (about twenty open to visitors), and its **8-hectare park** includes a stone hedge maze, tree-lined avenues and shady corners perfect for a picnic. Film buffs will recognise the castle as a location in Luchino Visconti's **The Leopard** and several Inspector Montalbano scenes. ### Practical tips for Donnafugata - **Getting there**: 15 minutes by car from Marina, inland road toward Ragusa - **Duration**: 1.5-2 hours for castle and grounds - **Hours**: check updated opening times, especially off-season - **Combine with**: morning at Donnafugata, afternoon in Ragusa Ibla ## Suggested itineraries ### Half day: Ragusa Ibla Morning in Ibla (Cathedral, Giardino Ibleo, alleys), lunch at an Ibla restaurant, return to Marina for an afternoon at the beach. ### Full day: Modica + Scicli Morning in Scicli (Via Mormino Penna, Palazzo Beneventano, San Bartolomeo), lunch in Scicli, afternoon in Modica (chocolate, San Giorgio, Corso Umberto). Return to Marina for aperitivo. ### Cultural morning: Donnafugata + Ibla Morning at Donnafugata Castle (cool and uncrowded), then lunch and a stroll in Ragusa Ibla. Return to Marina in the afternoon. ### The right rhythm With a week in Marina, the ideal rhythm is: **two days at the beach, one day of culture**. This way every beach day tastes like a reward, and every inland excursion has the charm of discovery. --- > *Hyblaean Baroque is not the Baroque of Rome or Lecce. It is a Baroque born from catastrophe — from the 1693 earthquake — and from the collective decision to rebuild more beautifully than before. Thirty years after that day, an entire civilisation had reinvented itself. Two centuries later, the world recognised it as a heritage of humanity.*