Gillian Knows Best accidental Commissario Montalbano guide to eastern Sicily

Or why Sicily in winter is the best Sicily

I mentioned last month that we were in Sicily for a wedding. We started our trip with a few sunny days in Ortigia and then drove¹ to Ragusa for four days of celebrating and exploring. With Ragusa as our base we roamed around the UNESCO Baroque towns in the Val di Noto. This collection of pretty hill towns are filled with golden hued churches and palaces most of which were built after a devastating earthquake in 1693. We realized after a few stops that we were on an accidental Commissario Montalbano tour. Much of the fictional town of Vigata where the dashing detective spends a lot of time is actually Ragusa. The Vigata police station is really in Scicli. The Vigata prison is in Noto and Montealbano hunts for criminals in Capo Passero, Portopalo and Marzamemi. I guess I have to watch the show now!

Ragusa

Is Ragusa beautiful? Absolutely. Did I love it? Not really. I tried. I really did, but ultimately Ragusa is not a place for me. I was surprised for all kinds of reasons. I had been here before in 2008 on a family trip at the same time of year. I remember enjoying it and thinking that the Baroque towns were charming. I also usually love a town in the off season. I like the empty piazzas and shuttered summer spaces. Somehow off season Ragusa felt unwelcoming. Nothing felt cosy or comfortable. There was no grand cafe or hotel bar to sit with a pastry or a cocktail and spend time with the all of the interesting people that had come from all over the world for my sweet pal’s wedding. In fact there was nowhere comfortable to sit anywhere! The few things that were open had chairs set precariously on slopes or were dark uninspiring rooms. The museums were closed and only a handful of restaurants were open. In summer there is a lot of Michelin star and fine dining here. Another thing I am not wild about. Ragusa is split into two separate parts. We stayed in Ragusa Ibla. I never went up to the more modern, much larger and I am sure livelier Ragusa Superiore.

Where to stay in Ragusa

The bride did all of the hard work researching accommodation in Ragusa. I chose the San Giorgio Palace hotel because it had easy parking and an elevator down to the historic part of town. The staff is young and helpful and the room was well priced.

Where to eat in Ragusa

The wedding aperitvo and dinner was held in Semplice bistrobottega by eXè Food . Everything was delicious. I had to restrain myself from eating square after square of Scaccia Ragusana because I knew dinner would be a multi course affair. There were 3 different pasta servings. I am planning on recreate the pistachio mortadella lasagna that was one of them. Mark and I were struggling to find something open for dinner on the night we arrived when we ran into the about to be bride and groom who told us to join their family around the corner at Quattro Gatti. The restaurant was accommodating to our large loud group. Mark got ravioli Ragusana which is ravioli stuffed with sweet ricotta and a rich tomato pork sauce. I got grilled lamb chops. We had a fun pizza night after the wedding at Ristorante Pizzeria U Saracinu.

Caltagirone

This was a quick stop for lunch on our way between Ragusa and Piazza Amerina. We spent most of the morning at a tile workshop picking out tiles for the bathrooms for our Venice house. We(by we I mean Mark who was driving the car) made a tactical mistake and followed the Google map that had been set to the famous stairway. It led us to a narrow one way street on a steep slope that ends midway up the steps. It was excruciatingly slow 30 or so minutes backing our way down. We found the correct place to park and stopped at the first open bar. The friendly waiter at Bar Escalier showed us a table around the corner in the Piazza del Municipio and brought us cold beers and hot aranccine. It was worth it see a completely empty Scalinata di Santa Maria del Monte.

Noto

“Everybody says, you gotta go to Noto.” Ee. It was fine. The famous pastry shop is closed in February and the cathedral is modern (and plain by Sicilian standards) because of a collapse in 1996. We strolled the Corso Vittorio Emanuele under colorful decorative lights that were up for the town’s saint festival and stopped in some cute ceramic shops. Instead of getting a late afternoon coffee at Caffe Roma we decided to head back to Ragusa before dark. This article is full of good Noto information.

Scicli

It was a a little gray and drizzly and I had done zero research on what to see or where to eat when we pulled into Scicli. Chic-Lee is how you pronounce this less famous of the Baroque towns. We saw a church at the end of the road so we started there. Even though it was a few minutes past noon, the young custodian patiently waited until I had looked at every reliquary and taken pictures of every painted tile and stuccoed ceiling.

It was almost time for lunch and we walked into the first place we saw, Osteria Tre Colline. There was a table in one of the warm dining rooms with mixed terrazzo floors in what used to be a house. We ordered bean soup and pork ragu and an enormous fennel and orange salad. Scicli is only a few kilometers from the sea so the seafood here is super fresh. In summer there is a terrace with great views of Piazza Italia. I have eaten a lot of cannoli in my life. I can say with authority that the cannolo at Cannolia is the best cannolo of my life. The shells are fried and filled to order. The ricotta is the perfect amount of sweet and the pistachios plentiful and perfectly salty.

We walked up to what Google maps said was a scenic overlook. My advice is to drive.

Portopalo di Capo Passero

Mark really likes seeing the furthest points of the world. So when he discovered that the southernmost point of Sicily was a short drive from where we are staying I knew that we were going there. Portopalo di Capo Passero is also where the Ionian and Mediterranean seas meet. We walked the empty seaside path mesmerized by the deep blue and turquoise swirling waves of the two seas meeting. This is also the site of a tragic sinking of a ship full of migrants that happened in 1996.

Marzamemi

You have probably seen this town on Instagram. The one with a sunbleached piazza filled with tables and painted blue chairs. It used to be a center for tuna fishing. Now is filled with cute shops and cafes. On a sunny day midweek in February you can park anywhere you want and have your choice of table at the most popular (and first) restaurant in town. Taverna La Cialoma serves elevated versions of traditional cuisine. Under a ravishing oil painting of crimson haired ladies we got glasses of grillo wine an extraordinary bowl of chickpea soup and scamuzzatura, a pasta with broccoli, raisins, anchovies and breadcrumbs. Before lunch we stopped in at the Adelfio factory and I bought jars of Ventresca tuna, bags of pistachios, a generous piece of vacuum packed bottarga and an enormous tub of tomato estratto.

Villa Romana Tellaro

After our sunny seaside walk we were hungry and heading to lunch but quickly turned right back around after seeing a faded brown sign that said Villa Romana Tellaro. I did a quick google search to see exactly what it was and Google maps said it was busier than usual. When we arrived aside from the guard we were the only people there. This collection of wonderful mosaics from a villa that was probably built in 350 AD were rescued in 1971 by the special branch of the Carabinieri dedicated to art crime.

The biggest plus for visiting Sicily in late February is that it is not 40+ degrees. The other is that nowhere is crowded. It is also decidedly off-season, which is not for everyone. Have you been to these Sicilian Baroque towns? Did you like them more than I did? Tell me what I missed in the comments.

1. We rented a car in Catania from GoldCar. Most rental cars in Sicily are standard and not automatic. Our Fiat Panda was from 2008 and didn’t have a phone charger. Get the FULL insurance. You will scratch the car. Make sure your driver’s license is at least 12 months old. If not (Mark’s wasn’t) have a copy or a picture of the front and back of your old one) You will also need an International drivers license.