Ragusa to Syracuse via Noto (24/9)

A cannoli - not our picture though

Breakfast was a drawn out affair this morning because the lady who was preparing it, on her own admission, loved to chat. She had a little more English than we had Italian, but she could also speak some French, so we managed to get along very well. We started to discuss traditional Sicilian food, and she produced a pastry shell which is filled with slightly sweetened ricotta containing glacé fruit and sprinkled with pistachio nuts and icing sugar to give a cannoli. Jill indicated that she had had one for dessert which was far too sweet, and the lady promptly disappeared briefly, coming back with the makings and produced one in no time at all! It was over an hour before we parted company. We packed and headed to the car, and were about to leave when our breakfast hostess appeared with our computer. We had left it under the sheet on the bed, and she had found it fortunately before we had left the car park. What a relief!

Looking at Ragusa Ibla on the hill in the middle distance giving some idea of
 how small it is.  There is a deep valley between the two towns.
The switchbacks give you some idea of the steepness.

We walked from Ragusa down to Ragusa Ibla. To do this one has to take several long flights of stairs to avoid a number of switchbacks which would be unsafe to walk anyway. Competing for space with cars on that road would be foolhardy to say the least. It is a challenge for the cars which do take the road. Ibla's street plan is still one based on its medieval heritage. It was a lovely town with some note-worthy buildings, churches of course, but some very fine pilazzas as well. One does wonder why so many churches were built. There was one church started every century from the 13th to the 18th century. There are seventeen in Ibla, three dating from the 13th, one from the 14th, two from the 15th, five from the 16th, four from the 17th and two from the 18th, and these are just the consecrated ones. There are several more which have been deconsecrated and are now museums or auditoriums. Not bad for an area approximately 1000m by 300m in area. Many of these are actually World Heritage listed. There were also several monasteries and convents. 

The convent and attached church in Ragusa Ibla

One of the convents is still extant, although it has a population of only eleven nuns. They have created a small museum in part of the convent. There were several missals with silver covers, some beautiful liturgical copes probably embroidered by nuns in the convent, as well as a small display of some of the crafts carried out in the convent. The nuns spun, wove, tatted, made lace, bound books, made shoes, illustrated manuscripts, and baked bread. There was no indication over what period of time these tasks were carried out, although there were photos of several nuns binding books and embroidering. It was very peaceful to go into this museum from the church. Nothing irritates more than loud people in a church who have no respect for where they are - it doesn't matter if you are a believer or not. As you entered you were asked to respect the ambience of the church as a place of worship, to wear reasonable attire, and to not take photos (especially as there were nuns there going about their devotions).

Stone wall and bare earth everywhere.

Jill bought some earrings (small, hand-painted ceramic balls) and some post cards and stamps, and we both had a lemon granita before walking back up to Ragusa and the car. From Regusa we headed for Noto, another UNESCO World Heritage site. Some of this was on back roads, and we could have almost been back in Ireland and its stone walls, except that it was very brown and dry. We had been watching some thunderheads in the distance as we drove towards Noto, and then started to wonder if it was actually Mt. Etna creating its own climate. The clouds seem to stretch away to the east so it could well be.

Part of the tromp l'oeil ceiling in Noto town hall

Noto is another city which was destroyed by the earthquake in 1693, and it's replacement was also planned on a rectangular grid. It is much more spacious than Regusa, with a number of piazzas and forecourts to buildings which give it an open feeling. Some of the buildings are quite stunning. Of course the churches have impressive Baroque facades (we didn't visit any of them) and there are some very fine palaces with very ornate Baroque decoration to balconies and door frames etc. The town hall, once a palace built by one Vincenzo Sinatra in 1746 was open, so we poked our noses into the reception hall. This oval room had wonderful frescoes on the roof, and the artist was a master of tromp l'oeil. If one took a casual look at the ceiling, you would think that it was decorated with stucco heads, scrolls etc., but it is all two dimensional paintwork. Quite brilliant. There were also two magnificent gilt-framed mirrors placed opposite each other so you had the infinity effect of them reflecting in each other. To finish the regal effect, there was a suite of Lois XV- style reproduction furniture in the room. 

The beautiful little theatre in Noto

Our ticket into the Reception Hall also allowed us into the theatre. This is a small 300+ theatre which has seen hard times! although it is now used regularly over winter. Construction started in 1853, and although it was formally opened in 1870, it hadn't been completed. It fell into disuse, was restored only to be neglected again until, after the ceiling collapsed, it was decided to restore and refurnished it. It is a lovely intimate theatre, so hopefully it remains in use.

We had planned on stay in Noto tonight, but decided to head to Syracusa and stay there for three nights instead of moving again tomorrow. Before we set off to walk Noto, we booked a B&B in Syracusa. We got back to the car to find a message to contact the B&B to confirm time of arrival. The phone wouldn't ring through so we decided to drive in to Syracuse anyway. We would be a couple of hours ahead of the checking deadline anyway, which was the issue. Our route took us along a few back roads again, through farmland with lots of dry-stone walls. It could have been a dry, brown Ireland (except for the olive and almond trees!). 

Our B&B in Syracuse was just opposite the necropolis cut into what had been the quarry the Greeks used for building materials.  We had a very good view from the breakfast room, but fortunately our room was on the opposite side of the building and double-glazed so we didn't hear the traffic in between.