Another beautiful day in Sicily. We have had perfect weather so far. I hope I haven’t just jinxed us.
This morning we had a walking tour of Ragusa. The city is divided into two sections: Ragusa Ibla, the old town, and Ragusa Superiore, the newer section. A devastating earthquake in 1693 killed about 5,000 people and destroyed much of the old town. When Ragusa was rebuilt, many residents chose to build in a new location, creating what is now the “new” part of the city. The rebuilding also gave Ragusa its many beautiful Baroque churches and buildings.
We’re staying in the old town, which is roughly shaped like a fish and was once surrounded by three rivers. The streets are incredibly narrow. One advantage is that they stay cooler, but the downside is that there isn’t much room for both pedestrians and cars. Staying out of the way of traffic when the sidewalks are extremely narrow was a challenge!
According to our guide, Ragusa had fallen into decline until the government opened a university there in 1981. She explained that many Italian universities don’t provide student housing, so people started renovating the area to rent to students thereby revitalize the old town.
Along the way, we stopped at an embroidery shop that sold beautiful pieces made using sfilato, a traditional Sicilian embroidery technique. The work was lovely, but I managed to resist buying anything.
After the tour, Nico took us to the home of an older gentleman who was a piano virtuoso. The inside of his home was every bit as ornate as you would expect from a Baroque-era city. He played a piece for us, and he was absolutely charming. I think having a group of strangers admire both his home and his piano playing may have made his day.
By then we were ready for lunch. Anne, another Anne from our trip, and I had delicious arancini and fresh pomegranate juice.
We then visited the Duomo, although the inside was not nearly as interesting as the exterior.
We tried to visit a couple of other sites, but it was Monday and, of course, they were closed. So we headed back to the hotel and spent the afternoon blogging.
While we were in Ragusa, we also learned the story behind one of Sicily’s most recognizable souvenirs: The Legend of the Moor’s Head. According to the legend, around the year 1100, a beautiful young woman in Palermo fell in love with a Moorish merchant. She eventually discovered that he had a wife and children back home and was planning to return to them. Understandably unhappy about this arrangement, she waited until he was asleep, cut off his head, and turned it into a flowerpot. She planted basil in it and watered it with her tears. The basil flourished so spectacularly that her neighbors became jealous and commissioned local potters to make their own versions of the Moor’s head. And that is why you see ceramic Moor’s heads for sale all over Sicily. Nothing says “romantic souvenir” quite like a severed head with a basil plant growing out of it.
By late afternoon, it was time to leave Ragusa again. We left the hotel at 4:45 and headed to nearby Modica, where we met members of an antique Fiat 500 club.
The Fiat 500 is tiny and extremely basic by today’s standards. Apparently, the older models required double-clutching when shifting, although I didn’t see our driver, Rita, doing it. We were paired up with two people per car, and Anne and I rode around Modica with Rita.
We stopped at the Duomo, a lookout overlooking the city where we had a Q&A with the drivers, and then continued down into the lower part of the city. The roads were incredibly narrow and winding, and those little cars were definitely put to the test. Rita was a great driver, though, and the whole experience was a blast. Our little Indy Fiat 500 ride was easily one of my favorite parts of the trip so far.
After our Fiat adventure, we visited a chocolate shop where they explained how they make cioccolato di Modica, a specialty of the region. It is made using an ancient technique that gives the chocolate a distinctive grainy texture. I tried it, but I wasn’t a fan, so I didn’t buy any.
We finished the evening with dinner and then took the bus back to Ragusa.