Ragusa, Sicily: Arrivederci Agrigento and Buongiorno Ragusa:

Wednesday, August 26, 2026

Ragusa, Sicily

Arrivederci Agrigento and Buongiorno Ragusa:

We spent most of today traveling—but indeed, it could have been worse. According to the tickets I had booked (by bus, long layover, then train), we’d be leaving Agrigento at 1.15 pm and reaching Ragusa at 8.00 pm. Alfonso and Pinuchia, his wife, discouraged us from going that route. They suggested an alternative route that would get us there faster and earlier. We decided to let go of our tickets and comply with their advice. Accordingly, after another sumptuous breakfast at their B and B, we were ready to get going. We had done our packing and were ready to move.

Our breakfast consisting of typical Sicilian pastries (cannolis, croissants with ricotta cream) and a variety of bread rolls with ham, plus yogurt and fruit and coffee, was enough to fuel us well for the day. So off we went in Alfonso’s car to the main bus station. There, he left Llew standing at the bus stop with our luggage and drove me to the SAIS company bus ticket office so that I could buy our tickets to Catania (about 11.00 euros each). The bus was leaving in 10 minutes (at 10.00 am) and we had no idea when it would reach Catania. We thought it would take no more than 2 hours. In point of fact, we reached at 1.00 pm (3 hours with a couple of stop in-between). At Catania Airport, we went to another bus station ticket office (ETNA) to get a ticket to Ragusa. That bus was leaving in 10 minutes and would take 2 hours to get to our destination (ticket cost 7 euros each). We had discovered, by this point, that the buses are not always prompt—often times they are late in arriving and boarding passengers.

Anyway, the long journey to Catania was not too bad as we were on the upper deck in a lovely, comfortable bus with AC. The passing landscape was also interesting and highly agricultural with every variety of fruit plantation in evidence including miles and miles of vineyards. Eventually, after Catania, our short ride to Ragusa was also good. We dozed off briefly and before we knew it, we were at Ragusa bus station. We had been in contact with our new landlady Conchita in our new B and B, Locanda la Meridiana, and she told us to take a taxi to her place. Luckily, there was a taxi waiting at the bus stand and we hired him, showed him our address and set off—for 10 euros he said he would drop us. But the jerk dropped us at least 2 blocks away (God knows why) and left us to manage our baggage till we got to the place. Luckily, he did call Conchita to let us know we had arrived and she did meet us and let us in.

A New B and B (Locanda la Meridina) and a New Landlady, Conchita:

Conchita is old—but very elegant (like all urban Italian women). She spoke beautiful English (turns out she had lived in London where she had studied English). She put us through the drill—showed us our room and bathroom, gave us keys, gave us a map and showed us how to find our way around. She also recommended what she called a ‘non-touristic’ restaurant for us to eat our dinner. Of course, we thanked her profusely and she went on her way (she lives nearby at 5 Via Scole) and we got into bed for a much-needed rest and afternoon siesta. In the evening, we would use her map and directions and go out to discover Ragusa Superior (Upper Ragusa).

Discovering Ragusa Superior:

Ragusa is an old medieval city that was all but destroyed in an earthquake in 1678. Completely leveled by the subsequent destruction, it was used as an opportunity to rebuild the city in Baroque style as was the fashion that day. The result is that Ragusa is a famous venue of tourist interest as it contains some of the best-preserved Baroque monuments in Sicily.

It was very easy for us to begin exploring Ragusa Superior which we began doing at 5.00 pm. All we had to do was make a sharp left and walk along Corso Italia until we arrived at Piazza San Giovanni where the Duomo is located. Along the route, we passed by the Poste and Telegraph building which was a mix of architectural styles: Baroque (beautiful carved statues at the top) and modern (a contemporary bronze sculpture at the bottom) co-exist on this building.

Inside the Cathedral of San Giovanni:

The Cathedral of San Giovanni is Baroque, of course. On the exterior, it has the same look as so many of the other churches in this part of the country—nothing really unique about it. Once we stepped inside, we were taken by the many side chapels (although the main altar is fairly plain). There were a number of sweet bouquets of red anthuriums at the altar (reminiscent of the Pentecostal tongues of flame). San Giovanni Battista (St. John the Baptist) is a revered saint in Italy and there are two large floats on one side of the church that are obviously used in annual processions (perhaps on the Feast of San Giovanni) around the city. One features a large silver casket, the other a standing replica of the saint. Other interesting aspects of this cathedral is a silver casket or reliquary containing the relics of Saint Cascia. I was particularly struck by a painting of St. Gregory, the originator of the Gregorian chants which I rather love. The background color of the interior is a soft dove grey with gilded Rococo highlights in stucco which remanded me very much of the glorious Baroque churches we had seen in Vienna and Salzburg, Austria with their endearing curlicues. There are also beautiful pairs of stuccoed angels holding up plaques with Latin inscriptions on them that made the church look important. When we stepped out of this church, we saw a Uni-Credit Bank just across the road—we were able to use Llew’s global debit card through CHASE (he was testing it) to withdraw more euros. And with that money in hand, we decided to continue the walking tour route that Conchita had drawn up for us.

This walking route then took us to one of the side streets from where we found the three bridges that span a deep ridge in the mountains that divide the city into two halves. On one bridge, the night market was being set up with all sorts of sweet treats. One of them is called the Ponte Vecchio—it is the oldest of the three (and not to be confused with the far more famous Ponte Vecchio in Florence). It actually reminded us very much of the Pont du Garde, the famous aqueduct in the South of France, near Provence, which I had seen at least 40 years ago, while touring with Genevieve, my French friend. Using the map, we found our way to it and were able, while standing on in it, to see the other two bridges on either side of it (far more modern in style and age).

Dinner at Circolo Italia Restaurant:

That done, we made our way back to the Pizza San Giovanni. As twilight was rapidly falling over the city, we decided to go looking out for dinner and we found the place that Conchita had recommended right under the stairway of the Cathedral--it was a lovely upscale restaurant called ‘Circolo Italia’ and when she said it was not touristic, she was right. But it was an upscale restaurant, a fine dining place, which might have been better suited to our anniversary dinner tomorrow. Anyway, we were seated inside in the air-conditioning as I simply cannot abide the humidity you deal with when seated on the pavement tables.

Llew ordered a glass of the house red wine, I ordered an Apero Spritz (and it was delicious). Then, for dinner, we decided to go with one Primi (First Course) and one Secondi (Main Course). We chose Pasta a la Norma—a dish made with very thick tubular pasta in a tomato sauce with eggplant and grated cheese. This dish is named after Bellini’s opera of the same name, ‘Norma’, and the colors are said to represent the various colors of the Mount Etna volcano: eggplant’s black for the lava, Tomato sauce red for the fire erupting, spinach green for the trees at the base and cheese’s white for the volcanic ice-cap. This dish had no spinach, but it was very tasty indeed. For our Main Course, we took the waitress’ advice and ordered the Beef Tenderloin served with shavings of Parmesan cheese and a balsamic vinegar reduction. It was really delicious. Once again, we had no room for dessert—so we passed up on it. After paying our bill, we got up to leave and found the square outside just buzzing as a musical festival seemed to be on and people had occupied seats in front of a stage to listen to a rock group belt out a few favorites. We walked quickly past the square and made our way downhill along Corso Italia to get back to our B and B at about 11.00 pm.

As soon as we reached home, we got ready for bed and lost no time crashing—as we were exhausted. But, it had been a day well spent because although our arrival in Ragusa had been kind of dicey, in the end we made good time and were able to make use of the entire evening in seeing Ragusa Superior. Tomorrow, all we have to do is see Ragus Ibla and we’ll be all set.

tomorrow, ciao…