The southeast and its baroque cities
UNESCO world cultural heritage
The baroque towns of the Val di Noto form an ensemble in south-eastern Sicily. Among them are Palazzolo Acreide, Noto, Modica, Ragusa and Scicli, and further north those of Catania, Caltagirone
and Militello in Val di Catania. All of these towns were declared UNESCO world heritage sites in 2002.
Noto
Noto lies in the province of Syracuse and has around 24,000 inhabitants. German travel magazine Merian described Noto in a 1999 special on Sicily as crumbling away without any chance of rescuing her.
Modica
Modica is home to approximately 55,000 people and lies in the province of Ragusa only 35 km away from Noto. A town worth seeing, Modica was built in a ravine where the houses seem to stick to the slope.
Ragusa
Ragusa is the capital of the province which bears the same name and has a population of around 73,000 inhabitants. A result of the city’s reconstruction is the juxtaposition of the “new” upper part of Ragusa with
Scicli
Scicli has 27,000 inhabitants and belongs to the already mentioned five baroque cities in the south-east. Scicli maybe isn’t as famous as Noto, Ragusa and Modica, but is definitely worth the visit. Both she and Ragusa are known in Italy as the filming locations for the Commissario Montalbano series, based on the books by Andrea Camillieri.
Palazzolo Acreide
This small city in the Monti Iblei is a real jewel. You don’t really expect this much classiness from a place with just about 9,000 inhabitants nested in the middle of limestone mountains. A historic centre well worth seeing,
Siracusa
Siracusa was declared a UNESCO-world heritage site in 2005 for other reasons than those which give the other cities mentioned above their renown: the places and buildings which make up the ensemble of