Current Time in Ragusa, Italy

Ragusa is a city in the southeastern corner of Sicily, Italy, situated on a high limestone plateau in the Iblean Mountains at an elevation of around 500 meters above sea level. With a population of approximately 73,000, it is the capital of the Province of Ragusa and one of the eight towns of the Val di Noto that were rebuilt in the Baroque style following the catastrophic earthquake of 1693, earning them collective UNESCO World Heritage Site status in 2002. Ragusa is unique among this group for its dual character: the rebuilt Baroque city (Ragusa Superiore) occupies the high plateau, while the original medieval settlement — Ragusa Ibla — was rebuilt on its old site in the valley below, creating two distinct but complementary urban environments of extraordinary beauty.

The earthquake of 1693 destroyed the original city of Ragusa — located on the hill of Ibla — almost completely, killing thousands of its inhabitants. The rebuilding that followed was the subject of intense civic dispute: while one faction wanted to rebuild in the old location, another insisted on relocating to the plateau above. Both groups ultimately prevailed, resulting in the curious situation of two cities growing up in parallel — the new, grid-planned Baroque upper city of Ragusa Superiore connected by a spectacular staircase (the Santa Maria delle Scale) to the old, organically rebuilt Ragusa Ibla below. The two parts were formally merged into a single municipality only in 1927.

Ragusa Ibla, the lower and older quarter, is widely regarded as the more charming and intimate of the two. Its winding medieval street pattern, rebuilt in Baroque style, clusters around the magnificent Cathedral of San Giorgio, one of the masterpieces of Sicilian Baroque architecture. The facade, attributed to the architect Rosario Gagliardi and completed around 1775, is a tour de force of tiered columns, sculptural ornament, and theatrical spatial composition that rises above a broad flight of steps and a sloping piazza in a setting of almost cinematic grandeur. The church of San Giuseppe in the same quarter echoes the composition in a more intimate scale. The Giardino Ibleo, a public garden at the eastern tip of the Ibla promontory, offers panoramic views over the deep valleys that surround the town on three sides.

Ragusa Superiore, the upper city, contains a different set of Baroque monuments including the Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista, several noble palaces, and the Museo Archeologico Regionale Ibleo, which documents the archaeological history of the surrounding region from prehistoric times through the Roman period. The stone used in the construction of both cities is the local golden limestone, which gives Ragusa its warm, luminous appearance particularly pronounced at sunset.

Ragusa has achieved worldwide recognition as the filming location for the Italian television series Il Commissario Montalbano, a hugely popular detective drama based on the novels of Andrea Camilleri set in the fictional Sicilian city of Vigàta. Ragusa Ibla has served as the primary shooting location for the exterior scenes, and the city has become a pilgrimage destination for fans of the series from across Europe. Walking the streets where Montalbano pursues his investigations, recognizing the piazzas and cafés from the screen, has become an established cultural tourism activity.

The surrounding Iblean plateau is an important agricultural area, and Ragusa is known for its Ragusano DOP cheese — a large rectangular caciocavallo-type cheese produced from the milk of local modicana cows and aged for several months to produce a sharp, complex flavor. The nearby town of Modica is famous for its traditional cold-processed chocolate, made without cocoa butter and with a granular texture quite unlike modern chocolate, following a recipe of pre-colonial Mesoamerican origin transmitted via the Spanish colonial period.

Ragusa is accessible by rail from Syracuse and Catania and by road from the main Sicilian cities. The nearest airport is Comiso Airport, about 15 kilometers from the city center, which serves several Italian and European destinations. For visitors exploring the Baroque southeast of Sicily, Ragusa — with its extraordinary dual-city structure, magnificent churches, television fame, and excellent local food — is an indispensable destination.