Day trip possibilities from Ragusa include Modica (cf 3), Marina di Ragusa, Scicli (cf 4), Ispica (cf 9), Punta Secca and Donnafugata Castle.Ģ. Ragusa is a plaisant little town where to stay overnight, for example on the way to Siracusa.
It contains several religious buildings and offers interesting views over the Irminio Valley and the Hyblean Mountains.
The park opens on a magnificent alley lined with palm trees. On the outskirts of the old town center lies the public Giardino Ibleo (Hyblean Garden), created in 1858. Maiolica roofed bell tower of Santa Maria dell’Itria and Chiesa Anime Sante del Purgatorio, Ragusa. The main sights include the Baroque cathedral of San Giorgio, the Church of San Giuseppe, Palazzo Consentini, with its balconies, Palazzo Nicastro, the olds prison, and Santa Maria delle Scale, with its long stairway leading down to Ragusa Ibla and offering beautiful views over the lower part of the city.
#Noto italy full
The capital town of the province of Ragusa was rebuilt in two parts over three hills separated by a deep ravines after the earthquake of 1693: Ragusa supra or modern Ragusa and Ragusa iusu or ibla, the older town district of Ragusa, full of medieval remains and buildings rebuilt in the Baroque style.Ĭhurch of San Giuseppe, Ragusa. It were the Sicels who gave Sicily its name. This part of Sicily was originally inhabited by the Sicels ( Siculi), long before the Greek colonization began in the 8th century BC. Map of Sicily with the area of the Val di Noto in red.
So, the word doesn’t refer to a valley ( Val or Valle in Italian), but stems from the Arab word Wālī, the governor of a province under Arab rule. Actually, the Val di Noto (or Vallo di Noto) is a historic denomination of an area that covered the south-eastern part of Sicily, including the province of Ragusa, Siracusa and parts of the provinces of Catania, Enna and Caltanissetta. After the destructive earth quake some of them, like Militello, were partially abandoned and rebuilt at another location, while others, like Catania, were entirely rebuilt on the same site.Įven though the towns have become famous as the “ Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto” they are not all located in the area around Noto. The towns of the Val di Noto were all in existence in medieval or even pre-medieval times, often starting as a monastic settlement and typically expanding around a castle. Note that the balconies’ ends were typically rounded to accommodate the 18th century ladies’ ample skirts! Another very typical feature is the fact that the belfries are placed on the church façade itself ( façade-tower), instead of in a separate campanile tower. Sicilian baroque is characterized by the use of human-like and plant-like elements, grotesque masks and putti, typical convex or concave façades, balconies supported by console brackets and intricate wrought iron balustrades (even on churches!), external staircases, and the use of local lava stone.
It is indeed both impressive and moving to realize that out of a tragedy causing 93,000 deaths so much beauty was created in a relatively short time thanks to a concerted effort of architects, artisans, artists and local people. In this article we chose to include also a ninth town, Ispica, which is located in the same valley and suffered the same fate. The collective effort in rebuilding the towns, the number of civil and religious buildings reconstructed and their exceptional architectural and artistic quality are so unique that eight of these towns were recognized as a Unesco World Heritage site in 2002.
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