I just returned from my first visit to Southeastern Sicily. With three other couples, we had rented a nice villa between the town of Ragusa and the beach community of Marina Ragusa. 

Highlights:

  • Syracuse (both the town central island and the ruins of Syracuse long glory years – Greek and Roman, 
  • The non-touristy hill towns,
  • great food choices,
  •  and wonderful late fall weather.

Drawbacks:

  • The main drawback is basically the comparison to the more trafficked areas (Rome, Venice, Florence, Tuscany, Amalfi Coast (Positano + Capri) Cinque Terre, Pisa/Lucca, the lakes (Como, Maggiore, etc.) – and more… 
  • It does get a bit hot in the summer

 We did spend a day in Syracuse (Siracusa in Italian). The small island of Ortigia is one of the two must-visits in Syracuse. This is the heart of the old city which with Athen and Carthage dominated the Mediterranean until the rise of the Roman Empire. The Romans also enjoyed the great port here and the city was a major part of the empire. The city center was built and rebuilt for many generations since and is a fun visit.

The other attraction is the ruins of the main areas of the ancient city which were preserved. It is a huge park today. It is a good half-day visit even if you are not an archaeologist. :)  Photo is of the ruins of what was a much larger coliseum in Syracuse.

There is also a wonderful Greek amphitheater there which is still in use
There are quite a few hill towns available to wander in this part of Sicily. We spent time in Ragusa, Modica and the quite small town of Chiaramonte Gulfi (pictured below.). Both Modica and Ragusa have several attractions and tourist infrastructure. Chiaramonte Gulfi was enjoyable, because it did not. The adventure was finding a place to have lunch.

While the restaurant food was fun, probably the best food we had was at our villa. We had contracted for a breakfast chef each morning. I will not bore you with complete menus, but Southeastern Sicily is an agricultural region. So we had ‘fresh ‘everything’ and a selection of local dishes each morning.

We also decided to have a pasta cooking lesson one evening. Two words come to mind – fun and delicious.

I mentioned the weather. We did walk on the beach, but I enjoyed walking the rural area surrounding our villa. The most unusual thing to me was the ‘fencing’. It was all stone walls. And this was true all over Southeastern Sicily. Made for a charming look.

So we had a wonderful week and if you have seen much of Italy before and are looking for a more relaxed and authentic visit, then Southeastern Italy is a good choice.

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