Italy, Sicily, Val di Noto, view over Ragusa Ibla

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Ragusa

Set amid the rocky peaks northwest of Modica, Ragusa is a town of two faces. Sitting on the top of the hill is Ragusa Superiore, a busy workaday town with sensible grid-pattern streets and all the trappings of a modern provincial capital, while etched into the hillside further down is Ragusa Ibla. This sloping area of tangled alleyways, grey stone houses and baroque palazzi on handsome squares is effectively Ragusa's historic centre and it's quite magnificent.

Attractions

Must-see attractions

  • Ragusa Ibla

    Ragusa Ibla

    Ragusa

    Ragusa Ibla is a joy to wander, its labyrinthine lanes weaving through rock-grey palazzi to open onto beautiful, sun-drenched piazzas. It's easy to get…

  • Castello di Donnafugata

    Castello di Donnafugata

    Ragusa

    Located 18km southwest of Ragusa, this sumptuous neo-Gothic palace houses the Collezione Gabriele Arezzo di Trifiletti, an extraordinary fashion and…

  • Ragusa Superiore

    Ragusa Superiore

    Ragusa

    One of the best reasons for heading up to Ragusa's modern and less-attractive half is to walk down again. It takes about half an hour to descend the…

  • Cinabro Carrettieri

    Cinabro Carrettieri

    Ragusa

    Biagio Castilletti and Damiano Rotella are two of only a handful of master artisans still making carretti siciliani (traditional Sicilian carts) the…

  • Palazzo Arezzo di Trifiletti

    Palazzo Arezzo di Trifiletti

    Ragusa

    If you fancy snooping around the private digs of an aristocratic family, Domenico Arezzo offers guided tours of his family's palazzo, built between the…

  • Teatro Donnafugata

    Teatro Donnafugata

    Ragusa

    Built in the bassi (working-class abodes) of a noble family's palazzo, this jewel-box theatre looks like a grand Italian opera house in miniature form…

  • Guido Van Helten Mural

    Guido Van Helten Mural

    Ragusa

    Channelling the classical iconography of Charity, this powerful depiction of a Sicilian mother tending to two infants was executed by Australian street…

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