Sunday, September 17, 2023; Noto and Siracusa
We managed to navigate the streets back up into Ragusa Ibla to pick companions and luggage up at the hotel, and make our way safely down out of the gorges toward yet another Baroque city, Modica; we had decided, though, to spend more time in fewer places and so drove on toward the best known of these, Noto. Much to our surprise, driving and parking presented no problems and we were soon on the Main Street, the Corso Vittorio Emmanuele.
Noto, without the topographic challenges presented by Ragusa, was designed after the earthquake as an enormous theater set. The buildings along the Corso are of the same limestone, baked golden in the sun; there were height and architectural restrictions, making for a cityscape that is at once varied and harmonious.
We came up onto the Corso from down the hill and found ourselves about halfway along the part of the town designed as a theater. We popped into the church of San Carlo before making our way down the street toward the Piazza Municipio. Noto’s cathedral forms a magnificent stage set above the Corso, reached by monumental steps.
Designed by Rosario Gagliardi and Vincenzo Sinatra, the Duomo was built in the early 18th century. Palermo spoiled us; the interior was pleasant, but it wouldn’t be until Siracusa that we found a church interior that was really interesting.
Across the Piazza is the Town Hall, Palazzo Ducezio , a splendid building of 1746 by Vincenzo Sinatra.
Down the street is another unusual piazza centered on the church of San Francesco all’Immacolata by Vincenzo Sinatra; the Piazza has two different levels, with a statue of the virgin on the “mezzanine.”
The church’s interior has lavish white stucco by Giuseppe Gianforma.
As we reached the end of the Corso, we encountered a seemingly endless line of…Fiat 500’s! A car club had staged a meet for seemingly every vintage 500 in Italy, and the drivers seemed pleased as punch to be strutting their stuff in this old town.
Noto has a reputation for fine gelato, so we investigated…and can confirm its status.
There is of course more to Noto than its Corso, but the Corso is its theatrical centerpiece, and we called it good.
We had a fabulous drive through the hills of eastern Sicily toward the sea and Siracusa. The whole area seems much more prosperous than the west: well tended farms, olive groves, citrus orchards, and lovely manor houses.
We reached Siracusa with little problem, and after a bit of driving around in circles (nothing scary this time), we found our hotel and surrendered the keys for valet parking with no little relief. Once you get used to the rules of the road, driving in Sicily isn’t always terrifying. The rules of the road, though, are not for the faint of heart. Problem number one is errant GPS directions: American systems aren’t designed for ancient, twisting streets that are often little more than alleyways. Problem number two is the narrowness of almost every road, in a country where the preferred mode of driving is to straddle the middle line (where one exists). But the major problem is the aggressiveness and impatience of Sicilian drivers. Turning in front of you and daring you to hit them, riding 3 feet from your rear bumper and blaring their horn, rolling toward you from a side street when you have the right of way and hoping you’ll flinch, etc.
Although we had absolutely loved our accommodations so far, the costs had been modest. We had decided to splurge in Siracusa, though, opting for a grand hotel right in the center of things. The Grand Hotel des Êtrangers was a bracing blend of the modern and the traditional, with lovely public areas and extraordinarily comfortable rooms.
And here’s the hotel in the evening.
Patti and David were ready for a siesta, but Sue and I decided to start exploring the place. Ancient Siracusa rivaled Athens as the largest and most powerful of the Greek cities. Over the centuries, it played host to Archimedes, Alcibiades, Plato, Aeschylus…and the list goes on. The city was founded on the island of Ortigia, separated from the mainland by a narrow channel; a splendid natural spring–now the Fontane Arethusa–supported a growing population.
The site was clearly chosen, though, for its magnificent harbors. The photo below gives some idea of the vastness of this protected harbor, the largest natural harbor in Europe.
Walking around the circumference of the island is pure pleasure.
We walked to the end of the island, where a fortress, the Castello Maniace, guards the entrance to the harbor.
There are a number of bathing spots along the shore.
We met Patti and David late in the afternoon for our now ritualistic spritz on our hotel’s rooftop bar, with magnificent views over Ortigia, the coastline, and the sea.
Views at luxury hotels do come at a price: 25 euros for a spritz! It did come with potato chips and nuts, but… We talked for a while with a very nice Polish woman who was living in Berlin, and spent the rest of the time talking about our day.
The evening brought the only negative experience of the entire trip: we had a very nice dinner at an osteria called Clandestine; mostly fish, several courses. But when the bill came, we were charged for a tasting menu we hadn’t ordered. We had sensed that we were off course midway through the meal, but when Patti had asked for the menu to check, the waiter put her off. We protested the check, quietly, at which point the waiter admitted that we had ordered a different, much cheaper menu, but refused to change the check, claiming that it was only a small difference. An 80 euro difference for the four of us wasn’t chump change, but there was no use making a scene and we left with a bad taste in our mouths. This was really the first example of dishonesty that we have encountered on our trips to Italy since 1996, when we were forced to pay a bribe to a garage attendant in Venice!