Ragusa
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Overview
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.
01 / Attractions
Must-see attractions
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…
Ragusa
Located 18km southwest of Ragusa, this sumptuous neo-Gothic palace houses the Collezione Gabriele Arezzo di Trifiletti, an extraordinary fashion and…
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…
Ragusa
Biagio Castilletti and Damiano Rotella are two of only a handful of master artisans still making carretti siciliani (traditional Sicilian carts) the…
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…
Chiesa delle Santissime Anime del Purgatorio
Ragusa
Consecrated in 1658, the Chiesa del Purgatorio miraculously survived the earthquake of 1693 before being tweaked and expanded the following century. These…
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…
Ragusa
Channelling the classical iconography of Charity, this powerful depiction of a Sicilian mother tending to two infants was executed by Australian street…
02 / Plan with a local
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