Ragusa part 2: the old town, Modica and the chocolate

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(Edited)

Ragusa - Sicily

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Hello Hivers,
today I want to share the second part of my trip to Ragusa. This time we came back to our client to finish our job and also this time we had quite some spare time to use to visit the city.

We stayed in an hotel called Poggio del Sole, which was in the middle way between the city of Ragusa and Marina di Ragusa. It was is a semidesert area, but I discovered that this is - really common in Sicily, since the temperatures, being closer to the equator are really high and so most of the land is dry and arid. This is a very different environment from the region where I live, i.e. Emilia Romagna, which is basically a big green flat-land. If you have to move from one city to the other you have to drive the car through this very hostile environment, where nothing grows and where for most of the time you do not see no one.

An other big issue we had, was that we had to go in Sicily at the beginning of August, so the temperatures during the day went up to 42-43° C (even breathing was hard sometimes). Luckily for us (or maybe not) we were most of the day working in a climatized office, so we didn't suffer so much the mugginess during the day and when we exited for work the temperatures were already become sustainable.

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The hotel was really nice, with a quite big pool where we used to relax after work. We could choose between:

  • going to the hotel, change ourselves and spend some hours at the pool relaxing and then go eat dinner;

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  • or take the car go to the sea and then eat directly there.

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I believe that this is quite an enjoyable way of living (especially the part where you don't have to pay for anything since the company is taking care of it 😂).

This was our second time in Ragusa and as we discovered coming back from our first trip, we actually didn't visit the most beautiful part of Ragusa, which is the old city, Ragusa Ibla. I clearly remember coming back from the first trip really upset by the city, because a lot of people told us how beautiful it was but when we visited the first time we only saw the new part, and quite frankly, it is not so memorable.

But the peculiarity of Ragusa is that it has a unique layout. As I was saying it is divided in two parts, Ragusa Ibla (lower old town) and Ragusa Superiore (upper town). You can walk between the two parts of town and observe stunning views of Ragusa Ibla from above.

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This part of the city is really amazing, and it is accessible for tourist only by foot. The internal part is all a Z.T.L. (Zona a Traffico Limitato in Italian, which means Limited Access Area), and one must park the car outside of the center.
This is actually a good thing because in this way you can enjoy the walk through the walls of the city (even if the slope is quite important in some parts).

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The main plaza, Piazza Duomo, is quite peculiar since it is really leaning and at the top you can see the Duomo di San Giorgio, which is a nice view. This part of the city is not so big and in a couple of hours it is possible to visit it all. The time spent was worth it, since, especially at night the illuminated historical buildings are really fascinating. Moreover, since cars are not allowed inside, the atmosphere is really quite and calm.
We stopped in a bar in Piazza Duomo, and took a local specialty of Sicilia: Granita, which is a semi-frozen dessert which can come in a lot of different flavors. I personally like a lot the lemon one.
I have to say that eating the granita sitting in front of the illuminated Duomo was a really memorable experience.

Apart from Ragusa Ibla, we also had the chance to visit another beautiful city in that area: Modica. Up to the 19th Century this was one of the most important cities of the entire Mezzogiorno, since was the capital of one of the most powerful county in Sicily.

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At the top of a very steep and tiring staircase, there is the Duomo of San Giorgio, a Baroque Church that is included in the World Heritage List by UNESCO.

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But there is another reason why this city is famous, and of course, since I am talking about it, it cannot be any other thing than food 😂.

Have you ever heard of the Modica Chocolate?

If you haven't than I suggest you try it. The recipe for this chocolate is one of the oldest ever found, belonging directly from the Aztecs. The Spanish brought directly from America the “xocóatl“, a product that the people of Mexico obtained from cocoa beans crushed on a stone so as to release the cocoa butter. The taste is really unique and there are a lot of different combinations that can be tried (with milk, salt, pistachios and so on).

If you enjoyed the post, please leave an upvote and/or a comment and feel free to follow me (at the link below) if you want to see my next post about speleology/climbing/skydiving and all the places that I have visited.

➡️ hive.blog/@aurzeq ⬅️

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