Day 125 Hilltop Ibla!

Tuesday 24/07/2018 (Day 39 SZ) Saganuma C orso Italia, 385, Ragusa, 97100, Italy -

A morning of catch up, didn’t actually head out of the house until around 2pm, then we headed over to the cheap shop called Hong Kong for some bits and pieces... I am looking for some new boots as mine sadly are falling apart...they have cracks allover the front of them where I have glued them constantly and huge cracks along the sole sections... they looked amazing but sadly are not a good Shoe... comfortable as, and a good base, just can quite get my head around the fact the outer part is made from really crappy stuff! I didn’t find any shoes but did get myself a couple of items to make cooking easier... from here we headed down the road to a very modern shopping centre...it had heaps of shoe stores but very ornate shoes no practical type of ones...the Italians are all about the look not the practicality of something.
Nothing here but did get a few groceries and a cuppa, then to the next shopping centre which did have an unreal shoe store even had the right kind of walking shoe but not the right look....ha ha ha.... I am as bad as the Italians aren’t I.....they were more men’s boots than ladies and they actually did have ladies boots with bling all over them, the look was right but not the practicality..... can’t win!
However I did get a pair of leggings next door.... I had 4 pair of 3/4 leggings in before I started the trip.... and by the time I set off had culled them down to 1 pair long ones and 1 pair of 3/4... which while it was so cold all worked fine but now it’s hot and I have only 2 sets of shorts... when you don’t wash for over a week you don’t have enough outer pants... and it’s too hot with jeans while here... anyway I now have one more pair....

Into the car and off to have a look at Ragusa Ibla..... we somehow took the wrong turn to start with and ended up winding our way down this massive range..... it took ages to find a spot we could actually turn around and come back up.... finally we got a break and it had to be fast the traffic comes flying around the corners here... back up we did come and into a road at the top still not sure it was the right one but it was thank goodness, even found a park spot....

We still not sure with over half the parking spots we have found and no parking meter if we are legal, I am waiting for a ream of parking tickets waiting for us at home...

This is an interesting town to say the least, built on, around and below a hill... a large hill filled with amazing old buildings.... we started out at an old Cathedral from the outside quite plan and even inside it as, except for this amazing fresco in its entrance you just see as its so old... and this very unusual design like numbers in the front... I had no idea what they meant and didn’t find anything that would say what it was..
Inside there was this guy playing a grand piano he was playing g his heart out... again I had no idea who he was and why he was playing his heart out... it was being heard all over the squad next to the Cathedral.... later as we ere leaving from about 4 blocks back you could here this music being played it sounded amazing.... as we got close to the car I followed the sound and it was again this guy playing but it was being piped through speakers out into the square and around the village... after that I became aware he must have been practicing before... still no idea if he was famous or not I just know he sounded unreal.... and having the music piped out to the public like that was also unreal...

Once I had looked here John doesn’t always look at the church’s mow, he found a garden and park lands, so wandered around it... found him and we went to investigate this area... it as set on the edge of the villages with this massive walled edge around the park.... over the edge it fell away to the valley below..... the park had water features, rows of palm trees, little secret garden type areas... it was very peaceful and even though there were people wandering around it, it was quite serine....

We left here and headed up the streets kind if following the crowds as we had no map and no idea where to go... we managed to find what looked like the main sites...
more church’s including a huge Duomo.....this is what they call the big mamma Cathedral ‘s... a smaller cathedral I found near another smaller square that had another grand piano 🎹 that was all set up with chairs out front of it looking like it was about to have a concert preformed... well I went inside this smaller cathedral and it had nuns doing a call to one another only 4 nuns but they sounded so angelic I was a bit cheeky in taking pics of them....I couldn’t resist...at every turn there were interesting shops, houses and huge buildings... many of which were more church’s..
I am sure I put my head into about 7 or more...

The more we wandered the more we wound our way up the hill...and to more and more steps..l to get a good vantage point back over the Duomo you had to climb heaps of those rotten steps...I am sure the Italians don’t have heart issues after daily climbing steps..... they have their daily cardio workouts without even realising it....they just die of emphysema instead as they ball smoke... young and old.... mind you thats probably why they didn’t die from that either having to use their lungs to get themselves up and down steps...

As we hit the top we could see the sun starting to go down... it was 7.30pm and we realised we had best get home... so heading down other steps we made our way back down, past unreal doors and the underneath of balconies that had statue heads.... looked unreal again... this whole area had so,so many delights it was just beautiful so pleased we made the effort to come here... we neatly didn’t, as it was another thing to do... but I had read it was amazing and had so wanted to visit it... and very glad we did... on the way down the car... while I was madly taking door shots John had taken up residence with a local elderly gentleman sitting on a park bench...he looked quite at home sitting near him... only thing his outfit was a dead give away he wasn’t a local...

Back to the car, back to our apartment, I remodelled the dinner with a creamy mushroom garlic white sauce to make mince and vegetables bake taste different.... I did and as it was too rich for my tummy, made me sick.. you would think I would learn... but it’s a hit and miss sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn’t.




Info thanks to Wiki... only if you want to read...


Ragusa (Italian: [raˈɡuːza],
 listen (help·info); Sicilian: Rausa; Latin: Ragusia) is a city and comune in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Ragusa, on the island of Sicily, with 73,288 inhabitants in 2016..l. It is built on a wide limestone hill between two deep valleys, Cava San Leonardo and Cava Santa Domenica. Together with seven other cities in the Val di Noto, it is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Ragusa
Comune
Città di Ragusa

Ragusa within the homonym province

Ragusa
Location of Ragusa in Italy
Coordinates: 36°56′N 14°45′E
Country
Italy
Region
Sicily
Province
Ragusa (RG)
Frazioni
Marina di Ragusa, San Giacomo Bellocozzo
Government
 • Mayor
Giuseppe Cassì
Area
 • Total
442.6 km2 (170.9 sq mi)
Elevation
520 m (1,710 ft)
Population (26 February 2018)
 • Total
74,251
 • Density
170/km2 (430/sq 
Postal code
97100
Patron saint
St. John the Baptist (Ragusa)
St. George (Ragusa Ibla)
Saint day
June 24
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Part of
Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto (South-Eastern Sicily)
Criteria
Cultural: (i)(ii)(iv)(v)
Reference
1024rev-007
Inscription
2002 (26th Session)
Area
17.39 ha (1,872,000 sq ft)
Buffer zone
29.32 ha (3,156,000 sq ft)

The origins of Ragusa can be traced back to the 2nd millennium BC, when there were several Sicel settlements in the area. The current district of Ragusa Ibla has been identified as Hybla Heraea.
The ancient city, located on a 300-metre (980 ft)-high hill, came into contact with nearby Greek colonies, and grew thanks to the nearby port of Camerina. Following a short period of Carthaginian rule, it fell into the hands of the ancient Romans and the Byzantines, who fortified the city and built a large castle. Ragusa was occupied by the Arabs in 848 AD, remaining under their rule until the 11th century, when the Normans conquered it. Selected as County seat, its first Count was Geoffrey, son of Count Ruggero of Sicily.

Thereafter Ragusa's history followed the events of the Kingdom of Sicily, created in the first half of the twelfth century. A Chiaramonte family fief, it remained the county capital after it was unified with Modica in 1296, a status it lost in the 15th century after a popular revolt.
In 1693 Ragusa was devastated by a huge earthquake, which killed some 5,000 inhabitants. Following this catastrophe the city was largely rebuilt, and many Baroque buildings from this time remain in the city. Most of the population moved to a new settlement in the former district of Patro, calling this new municipality "Ragusa Superiore" (Upper Ragusa) and the ancient city "Ragusa Inferiore" (Lower Ragusa). The two cities remained separated until 1926, when they were fused together to become a provincial capital in 1927 at the expense of Modica, the former capital and the most populous and important city in the region since 1296.
In 1838 an asphalt deposit was discovered, which is still being worked.

Ragusa is a hilltown that lies below the Hyblaean Mountains, and is historically divided into Ragusa Ibla and Ragusa Superiore. The municipality borders with Chiaramonte Gulfi, Comiso, Giarratana, Modica, Monterosso Almo, Rosolini (SR), Santa Croce Camerina, Scicli and Vittoria.[2] It counts the hamlets (frazioni) of Marina di Ragusa, located by the sea, and San Giacomo Bellocozzo.

The city has two distinct areas, the lower and older town of Ragusa Ibla, and the higher Ragusa Superiore (Upper Town). The two halves are separated by the Valle dei Ponti, a deep ravine crossed by four bridges, The most noteworthy of which is the eighteenth-century Ponte dei Cappuccini.

Upper Town
Ragusa Cathedral, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist (San Giovanni Battista), is the biggest attraction in Ragusa Superiore. The church was originally located in the western part of ancient Ragusa, under the walls of the Mediaeval castle, where the small church of St. Agnese is today. A smaller building was quickly built on the site after the 1693 earthquake, which soon proved inadequate. The current edifice was built between 1718 and 1778, with a façade in typical southern Sicilian Baroque style, with three portals and sculptures representing the Madonna, St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist. The upper columns have two clocks showing the time in Italian and French fashions respectively. The high bell tower, on the left side, is also in Baroque style.
The ornate Baroque interior has a Latin cross plan, with a nave and two aisles separated by three colonnades embellished with gold. Charts showing Bible verses referring to St. John the Baptist are over every column. The dome was built in 1783, and covered with copper sheets during the 20th century. The side chapels, characterized by altars decorated with polychrome marbles, date from the 19th century.
Also noteworthy is the Hyblean Archaeological Museum, with different sections devoted to archaeological finds from the Prehistoric to the Late Roman era.

Ragusa Ibla
Ragusa Ibla is home to a wide array of Baroque architecture, including several stunning palaces and churches.
The Cathedral of San Giorgio started in 1738 by architect Rosario Gagliardi, in place of the temple destroyed by the 1693 earthquake, and of which is the only place in the city a Catalan-Gothic style portal can still be seen. The façade contains a flight of 250 steps and massive ornate columns, as well as statues of saints and decorated portals. The interior has a Latin cross plan, with a nave and two aisles ending in half-circular apses. It is topped by a large Neoclassical dome built in 1820.
On a narrow winding street connecting Ragusa Ibla with Ragusa Superiore lies the church of Santa Maria delle Scale ("Saint Mary of the Steps", built between the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries). This church is particularly interesting: badly damaged in the earthquake of 1693, half of this church was rebuilt in Baroque style, while the surviving half was kept in the original Gothic style (including the three Catalan-style portals in the right aisle). The last chapel of the latter has a Renaissance portal. The chapels are adorned with canvases by Sicilian painters of the 18th century.
* Church of the Souls of the Purgatory has a Baroque portal.
* Church of Santa Maria dell'Itria, built by the Knights of Malta in the seventeenth century, has a campanile with ceramics from Caltagirone and a canvas attributed to Mattia Preti.
* San Filippo Neri
The church of San Giorgio, designed by Rosario Gagliardi and built between 1739–1775, has a façade with tiers of juxtaposed columns. The Treasury contains silver items. Similar though smaller is the nearby church of St. Joseph, with an elliptic interior housing a seventeenth-century statue.
The church of Sant'Antonino is an example of Norman architecture, characterized by a Gothic portal, while the Church of Immacolata boasts a fine fourteenth-century portal.
San Giorgio Vecchio boasts a façade with a notable Gothic-Catalan portal, with a high lunette portraying St. George Killing the Dragon, and Aragonese eagles.
The Hyblean Garden offers a good view to the three churches of the Cappuccini Vecchi, St. James (fourteenth century) and San Domenico.
The Zacco Palace, a Baroque building, has Corinthian columns support balconies of wrought iron work, caryatids and grotesques.
The Villa Zinna country estate.En savoir plus