Ragusa is a beautiful hilltop city in southeast Sicily that has become famous in recent years as the setting of the TV series Commissario (Inspector) Montalbano based on the best selling books by Andrea Camilleri. The TV series has English subtitles and, if you like mystery with plenty of comedy, you should give it a try. The books are fabulous as well! This city was also destroyed by the earthquake of 1693. It has an historical centre, named Ragusa Ibla, and the modern higher city, Ragusa Superiore, is only 200 years old. I concentrated on visiting Ragusa Ibla, where the patron saint of Saint George was evident everywhere.
Ragusa is one of the wealthiest, most industrial parts of Sicily but is often overlooked by tour guides. It is also an agriculture leader for Sicily, where 60% of it’s olive oil is produced. The town has a beautiful garden in itss city centre which is perfect for enjoying an afternoon break.
As a special treat, I visited the only surviving artisan shop that still creates the colourful and traditional Sicilian carriages. The apprentice, Raffaele, demonstrated his skill and knowledge and as I wandered through the workshop, the smell of carved wood brought to mind wonderful memories of me watching my dad building furniture in the garage.
This group of 3 individuals have recently partnered with Dolce and Gabbana and they have provided all the colourful prototypes for refrigerators, Italian coffee pots and toasters that you can see in their catalogues. I remember seeing the coffee pots at The Hudson Bay! It’s a nice way to make an old tradition modern, in hopes of keeping it alive. For anyone who wants a custom made wagon, the wait time is a year and it will cost you 10,000 Euro – donkey/horse not included😁.
In the evening, I visited the city of Modica which is very close to Ragusa. It is known for its chocolate and the flavours available were numerous and, in some instances, strange like banana. I visited Bonajuto, the oldest chocolate factory in Sicily, created in 1880, where six generations of chocolatiers create chocolate and desserts with love and using Sicilian ingredients. They showed us how they make their chocolate and offered us samples, including a cold chocolate drink that I will definitely dream about.
The shops were unique, the views stunning and dinner consisted of a lot of pasta dishes!
