Ragusa is one of the most picturesque towns in Sicily. the view from the upper town over Ragusa Ibla on its own separate hill top is quite breathtaking. Ono fo the Unesco listed baroque towns of South Eastern Italy, Ragusa is also one of the principal filming locations for the Italian detective drama Inspector Montalbano.
If you happened to read about our time in San Vito lo Capo then you’ll know that before Ragusa we had a few days relaxing on the beach before stopping off at the Villa Roman del Casana to see the Roman Mosaics. After that and on route to Ragusa the weather changed dramatically. Thunder lightning and the heaviest rain you’ve ever seen.
It was during this thunderstorm that our little cinquecento decided to have a puncture so there we were, in a lay-by in the pouring rain changing little Cinque’s tyre. Good job we had our Triangle Rosso! Tyre changed we made our way to Ragusa. The whole journey from San Vito lo Capo to Ragusa with a stop off for an hour or so at the Villa was around 6 hrs and 363 km
As it was my birthday, Chris had booked a really swanky hotel for our two night stay here in Ragusa. The Relais Antica Badia was a beautiful hotel and just perfect for a bit of luxury for my birthday.
Our room was part of the old building with exposed ancient brickwork which curved round the ceiling. The linen was superb and the bathroom was beautiful with a brilliant shower and plenty of hot water. As I was my birthday Chris had arranged a bottle of bubbly and a basket of fruit so that was a nice additional touch in our room.
Ragusa is split into 2 parts over to hill tops. Ragusa Superiore is the more modern part with museums, restaurants, hotels and shopping. Ragusa Ibla is on the adjacent hill and is a Unesco world heritage site and home to the baroque churches and buildings that make Ragusa famous. It is easy to walk from one area to the other however there’s a lot of steps to climb up and down.
This is a fantastic baroque church which features in the opening credit of Inspector Montalbano as well as some of the episodes. Dating from around 1775 it really is a beautiful building and you can find out more information here.
There are loads of companies offering Montalbano tours as this is the key place where the detective drama is filmed. My advice, wait till you get there and choose one of the local tours available in Ragusa Ilba. There are plenty of signs show who’s offering tours and they range from 1 hr to 1/2 day to full day. Something to suit everyone.
Modica is famous for its chocolate and is a pretty little town. There is a regular bus service from Ragusa to Modica and the schedules can be found Here. You can buy tickets online or from the driver. The journey takes mourned 40 mins and the buses run approx 5 times per day.
Modica, like Ragusa, is famous for its baroque buildings and again like Ragusa has a Church of Saint George. Its also extremely famous for its history of chocolate making and generations of families have made chocolate here. A superb destination for foodies. Modica chocolate is rich, dark and crumbly, produced in a traditional method imported from the New World by Sicily’s Spanish overlords. It can be melted, or eaten solid. The most famous chocolate-maker is the Antica Dolceria Bonajuto. A family of generations in the production of chocolate. Behind the counter you can see into the factory and the chocolate artisans at work. There are tours you can join throughout the day and a shop where you can buy this delicious chocolate.
There are two restaurants we tried for dinner when we visited Ragusa and I’m going to tell you about them here. There was also another restaurant that we stopped off at for our evening aperitivo but we didnt eat here. Let me know if you visit any of these.
Probably one of the best restaurants I’ve ever eaten in whilst in Italy. This was a husband and wife team, husband as chef and wife as front of house and the food was exceptional. I had the ricotta filled ravioli in butter sauce with a hint of sage and it was amazing. I also had a traditional Sicilian dessert cassata. I could have eaten here again and again.
What can I say. This restaurant gets excellent reviews but sadly when we visited we must have been there on an off night. We chose this place as my birthday meal restaurant and it was a bit disappointing. The food was not on a par with Da Luigi where we’d eaten the previous night but hey, have a go if you’re in the area as it still gets fantastic reviews and offers a menu of traditional Sicilian food.
Our pre dinner aperitivo was usually taken here as it was quite close to the hotel and they did a mean aperol spritz. They had quite an impressive drinks menu but we never ate here to have no info on the food.
We have always tended to use Booking.com having said that if your on a tight budget another good site to try as a comparison is Hostelworld, If your looking to compare different sites you can do that on Hotellook, we tend to look on here first to make sure we are getting the best deal.
You can book your visits as you go at the entrance to your chosen attraction or site. Or you could use the following links to book in advance or just to find out what your choices are in the area. GetYourGuide and Tiqets are our go to choices you could try Viator to see how they compare.
For a full list check out our resources page. Don’t forget always shop around to find the best deal for you. What works for us should be good for you but it’s always reassuring to check.
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Palermo is on the North Western tip of Sicily nestled in the Bay of Palermo in the Tyrrhenian Sea and is the capital of the island of Sicily.
We had no accommodation on Lipari pre booked. As it was the morning when we travelled from Vulcano and the journey was only 20 mins we had plenty time to find somewhere.
How did we get to Sicily:
Our trip started in Manchester and we flew to Naples as we had planned to end our trip in Naples.
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