Marina di Ragusa to Ragusa

Ragusa - Chiesa di Santa Maria dell'Itria

It has been quite a while since I put fingers to keyboard and my apologies to those who commented that I rather left the season hanging with my last update, as it appeared before we settled into our winter berth at Marina di Ragusa.
It can be confusing at first when one sees ‘Marina’ on a chart or map of Italy as this does not necessarily mean a place for boats and yachts; it simply means a seaside town or village. In this case Marina di Ragusa (MdR colloquially) is a small town, or village really, with a population of around 5,000 in the winter months and closer to 65,000 in the summer. The harbour, the Porto Turistico, is a popular winter stop-over and a number of hundred yachts of many nationalities end up staying for the off-season. Some from as far afield as Canada, Israel, Australia, with a solid EU contingent making up the rest.

The beach at Marina di Ragusa

While many owners only stay for part of the winter the live-aboards stick it out for the duration and many a good time is to be had at the numerous functions that fill the weekly social calendar. More of that another time though, as this is meant to be an opportunity for me to share a recent day trip to Ragusa. Ragusa is just half an hour northeast from here and has nothing to do with the Swiss chocolate bar of the same name, from which I lived when I was student. The history of this place extends back even further than my student days though as can be seen in the beautiful Baroque architecture. Despite its even longer history dating back to 2nd century BC the old part of the town is only from the middle of the Baroque period onwards as there was an earthquake in 1693, which destroyed just about everything.

Built on two steep hills, Ragusa Superiore and Ibla became one town in the 1920s and it is one of the more picturesque places you are likely to see in Italy or anywhere for that matter. There is a uniformity of style, and, while there is an abundance of street signs in places, there is a pleasing absence of many of the ugly TV antennas and Satellite dishes one sees everywhere else. All of this conspires to transport you to a different point in time. There being only a handful of visitors now in winter also helps.

Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista	Ceiling of the Cathedral
The fascist era reflected in the Post Office building	Hardly a satellite dish in sight

Its filmic character has already been exploited as it is one of the locations for the Il commissario Montalbano series from the books by Andrea Camillieri. As an aside RAI filmed a scene near the Porto in MdR earlier in the year. The yachties, ever boisterous, were asked to tone it down for the sake of the sound stage, which they agreed to do as long as the star of the show Luca Zingaretti came to say hello in the bar. This he duly did and the occasion has been immortalised in a video clip on the Stella Marina Bar FB Page. Heady circles. But Back to Ragusa: even the touch screen terminal outside the tourist information office blinks information about Montalbano country and related sights. Since the baroque period pre-dates television somewhat, I move on from these thoughts and wander the steep cobbled alleys empty of the distraction of throngs of tourists. Only a few of us seem to be there, all quite discretely taking photographs and enjoying the views and the breathtaking steps. My iPhone app registered that I had climbed 14 floors. I will get it calibrated soon as it certainly seemed like more.

Baroque - obviously	The Duomo	Confessional for bad jybes
Another quaint B&B	Hidden oasis	More steps await

Looking down from the top of the hill and over the valley one of the first things to catch the eye is the Campanile della Chiesa di Santa Maria dell'Itria. The spire is decorated with Majolica from Caltagirone and although not as imposing as the Duomo, is the most eye-catching of the numerous churches. Most are quite modest inside, plastic chairs for pews rather spoiling the Rococo style. At the piazza della Repubblica, the lowest point between the two hills of each side of Ragusa, is the Chiesa del Purgatorio, dedicated to all the saints and souls in purgatory. I am not a scholar on these matters, but given the number of steps back up to the Chiesa Santa Maria delle Scale, the notion for the need of one’s soul to be cleansed is brought into sharp relief. I can say that the café serving cold beer by the bus stop was heavenly though. By this time I had been walking around for many hours and it was time to catch a bus back to MdR.

Early sunset at the Porto  - a bit before 17h00

Marin di Ragusa on No Foreign Land