Ragusa is a city of about 73,000 in the southeast corner of Sicily, and it is really two cities stacked on one hillside. A catastrophic earthquake in 1693 flattened this whole corner of the island, and the people of Ragusa could not agree on what to do next: some rebuilt on the old ridge where the town had always been, and the rest built a new town on the plateau above it. Both won. The lower one is Ragusa Ibla, the upper one is Ragusa Superiore, and together they are one of the eight Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto that UNESCO inscribed in 2002.
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WHAT THAT MEANS FOR YOUR LEGS IS THE POINT OF THIS POST. The two halves are joined by long flights of steps down the side of the gorge, the best known being the Scala di Santa Maria delle Scale, and Ibla itself is built on a narrow spur so that almost every street either climbs or drops. The stone is limestone, centuries polished, and slick in rain. There is a city bus between the two levels and most visitors use it in at least one direction, which is not cheating.
The set piece is the Duomo di San Giorgio in Ibla, Rosario Gagliardi's masterpiece, with a curving convex front rising to a high dome at the top of its own flight of steps and a piazza that slopes away from it. Behind it the ridge runs out to the Giardino Ibleo, a public garden at the very end of the spur with the valley on three sides.
Ragusa is also television. Inspector Montalbano was filmed across this corner of Sicily, with Ibla standing in for the fictional Vigata, and Italian and British visitors come specifically to walk the locations. The series is why a city this size has the visitor numbers it does.
And this is high Sicily, not coastal Sicily: Ragusa sits around 500 metres on the Iblei plateau, which changes what you bring.
Ibla, the Upper Town and the Steps Between
A baroque cathedral on a sloping piazza, a garden at the end of a ridge, and 242 steps.
Start in Ibla and give it most of a day. The Duomo di San Giorgio is the reason people come: approached up its own staircase, with a facade that bulges outward in three tiers under a neoclassical dome, it is the clearest single statement of Sicilian baroque anywhere. The Piazza Duomo in front of it tilts, which is how the architects worked with the ridge rather than levelling it. The Chiesa di San Giuseppe a few minutes away is by the same hand and smaller, with an elliptical interior worth the detour.
Walk the whole spur to the Giardino Ibleo at the end. It is a nineteenth century public garden with palm avenues, three churches inside its walls and a terrace looking down into the Irminio valley, and it is where the town goes in the early evening. The Portale di San Giorgio, a surviving Gothic doorway from the church the earthquake destroyed, stands on its own nearby and is the one piece of pre-1693 Ragusa left standing in plain view.
THE STAIRS ARE AN ATTRACTION AND A WORKLOAD AT THE SAME TIME. The Scala di Santa Maria delle Scale climbs from Ibla to the upper town in 242 steps with viewpoints and churches along the way, and the view back down over Ibla's rooftops from partway up is the photograph the city is known for. Going UP is a real effort in summer heat; going down is easy on the lungs and hard on the knees. The alternative is the city bus, which runs frequently between the two levels, and there is no shame in walking down and riding up.
Up in Ragusa Superiore, the Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista is the upper town's own eighteenth century cathedral, the Corso Italia is the shopping street, and the Museo Archeologico Ibleo holds the finds from Kamarina, the Greek colony on the coast. The upper town is where the ordinary life of the city happens and where most of the practical shops are.
Recommended Tours and Experiences
The Val di Noto, the Coast and the Montalbano Country
Seven more baroque towns, a beach half an hour away, and a chocolate tradition from the Aztecs.
The Val di Noto is the day-trip map and the towns are close together. Modica, fifteen minutes away, is built the same way on two levels and makes chocolate by a cold method the Spanish brought from the Aztecs, worked without conching so it stays grainy; the Duomo di San Giorgio there is the rival to Ragusa's. Scicli, twenty-five minutes, is the smallest and least spoiled of the three, and its town hall was Montalbano's police station. Further out, Noto is about an hour and is the most theatrical of all eight, rebuilt from nothing on a completely new site in golden limestone.
Marina di Ragusa, 25 kilometres south, is the city's own beach and about half an hour by car or bus: a long sandy strand with a marina, busy in August with Ragusani rather than foreigners. The coast each way has quieter beaches, including Punta Secca, where Montalbano's house is a real building on the sand and is now a guesthouse.
Inland, the Cava d'Ispica is a long gorge honeycombed with rock-cut tombs, Byzantine chapels and cave dwellings, and Siracusa with its Greek theatre is about ninety minutes northeast.
Eat the local things: Ragusano is the DOP cow's milk cheese of this province, scacce are rolled stuffed flatbreads sold in bakeries, and the province grows most of Sicily's greenhouse tomatoes.
Getting around: the two halves of the city are walkable individually and joined by steps and a frequent bus. Trains reach Ragusa slowly from Siracusa and Caltanissetta and are not a practical way to see the region. Buses run to Catania, Siracusa and Marina di Ragusa. A CAR IS THE SENSIBLE CHOICE for the Val di Noto and the coast, with the warning that Ibla's streets are medieval, mostly one-way, partly pedestrianised and not where you want a hire car: park in the upper town or at the designated lots and walk down. Catania airport is about ninety minutes away and Comiso, much closer, has a few seasonal flights.
When to Go
April to June and late September to October, with high summer genuinely hot and winter wetter than people expect.
Southeast Sicily at 500 metres: daytime highs from about 14C in January to 31C in July and August, with far less humidity than the coast and a reliable breeze on the plateau.
April to June is the best of the year, with wildflowers on the Iblei, comfortable walking temperatures for all those steps, and everything open.
July and August are hot and the stone holds the heat. The baroque is at its best in that light, but climbing the Scala at two in the afternoon in August is a mistake, and the sensible shape of the day is Sicilian: out early, inside or at the beach in the middle, out again after six. August is also when Italians take their own holidays, so Marina di Ragusa is full and the city is quieter than you expect.
Late September and October are excellent: the sea is still warm, the heat has gone out of the stone and the light is long.
WINTER IS THE SEASON PEOPLE MISJUDGE. At this altitude Ragusa is not Sicilian-mild: highs around 14C, the plateau wind, and most of the year's rain falling between November and February in heavy bursts. The steps and the polished limestone of Ibla are slippery wet, some smaller churches and museums cut their hours, and the beach resorts largely shut. It is a good time to have the baroque to yourself and a bad time to arrive in canvas shoes.
Is Ragusa Safe for Women Travelers
Ragusa is one of the safest and quietest provincial cities in Italy, and the hazards here are steps and heat.
The FCDO publishes no advised-against areas anywhere in Italy. Its guidance concentrates on petty theft in crowded tourist areas and on the ZTL, the limited traffic zones in historic centres that catch drivers out with automatic fines months after the trip.
The pickpocketing that dominates Italian travel advice is a Rome, Florence, Venice, Palermo and Catania problem and there is very little of it in a provincial city of 73,000. What applies is car crime: do not leave anything visible in a parked hire car, here or anywhere in Sicily. A theft needs an in-person report, the denuncia, for the document an insurer wants.
Day to day this is comfortable and unremarkable. Ibla and the Corso Italia are busy in the early evening for the passeggiata, eating alone is completely unremarkable, and the city is small enough to walk and well lit in both halves. Foreign visitor numbers are modest and English is less common than in the big Sicilian cities, so a few words of Italian go further here. Sicilian attention to a woman travelling alone tends toward the conversational rather than the aggressive, and a polite lack of interest ends it.
Italy is in the EU, so a UK Global Health Insurance Card or an EU European Health Insurance Card gives you state-provided medically necessary care on the same terms as an Italian resident. That means the same ticket, the co-payment Italians make, rather than nothing, and it does not cover repatriation, so travel insurance sits on top of it. Italian public hospitals are good and the emergency department, the pronto soccorso, treats anyone who arrives. Pharmacies, farmacie, are marked with a green cross, are staffed by pharmacists who can advise and dispense for minor problems, and post a rota for nights and Sundays on the door. Tap water is drinkable across the country, including from the public fountains that are common in Italian towns.
The practical cautions are physical. THIS CITY IS STEPS: the Scala is 242 of them, Ibla's lanes climb and drop constantly, and the limestone is polished smooth and genuinely slippery in rain. That rules out smooth soles and makes a handrail worth using. Summer heat on unshaded stone at 31C is the other real risk, and the Sicilian rhythm of avoiding the middle of the day exists for a reason. Driving is the third: Ibla's streets are narrow, one-way and partly pedestrianised, and the rural roads across the Iblei are unlit with stone walls close to the edge. Anyone with knee or hip trouble should plan the bus in one direction rather than both flights of steps.
The Ragusa Packing List
Base layers, for hot days and a cool plateau
The useful thing about merino in a hot dry climate is not warmth, it is that it moves moisture and resists odour, so one top survives several days of climbing steps in 31C heat in a way cotton does not. At 500 metres the evenings cool off faster than on the coast, and in winter it is the warm layer under a jacket. Our merino base layers are 100% Australian merino at 17.5 micron with no synthetic blend. A long sleeve merino wool base layer for women covers both jobs, and the long sleeve doubles as sun cover and as the cover churches expect.
Shoes with grip, and this is the big one
Walking shoes with grip. Ragusa is a staircase: 242 steps on the Scala, constant climbs and drops in Ibla, and limestone paving worn smooth by three centuries of feet that is slick in rain and slippery even dry. Smooth-soled sandals and canvas trainers are the wrong choice here in a way they would not be in a flat coastal town. Merino wool socks, which handle a hot climb without blistering.
Sun protection, February included
A wide brim sun hat and high factor sunscreen. The piazzas are unshaded, pale limestone reflects light and heat back up at you, and this is the latitude of North Africa.
An insulated bottle
An insulated water bottle. Tap water is drinkable, there are public fountains, and carrying cold water up the Scala is worth the weight.
A light waterproof, October to March
A packable rain jacket for women. Most of the year's rain falls in this window and it arrives in heavy bursts, and the plateau wind makes an umbrella close to useless.
A warm mid layer, November to March
A fleece mid layer. At 500 metres a 14C winter day with wind across the plateau is colder work than the same number on the coast, and the churches are unheated stone.
The small things
Cash in euros for small bakeries and the bus, though cards are widely taken. An Italian two-pin adapter. Shoulders and knees covered for the cathedrals, which the long sleeve handles. Swimwear if Marina di Ragusa is in the plan. AND THE ONE THING THAT ACTUALLY MATTERS: a plan for the two levels, which means the bus timetable between Ibla and the upper town, so that the 242 steps are a choice rather than the only way back.
Essential Resources for Women in Ragusa
Emergency numbers: 112 for police, ambulance and fire, free from any phone including a locked mobile, with operators who will find an English speaker. It is the single number across the whole European Union.
Non-emergency police: dial 112 for any emergency, which in Italy reaches police, ambulance and fire, 113 for the Polizia di Stato and 112 for the Carabinieri, who cover smaller towns and the countryside. A theft needs an in-person report, the denuncia, to produce the document an insurer requires. English is less common here than in the big Sicilian cities.
Main hospital or clinic: the Ospedale Giovanni Paolo II in Ragusa has an emergency department, the pronto soccorso, with the Ospedale Maggiore in Modica fifteen minutes away. Dial 112 for an ambulance. A farmacia, marked with a green cross, posts the duty rota for nights and Sundays.
Official health authority: the Ministero della Salute, the Italian health ministry. Italy is in the EU, so a UK GHIC or EU EHIC gives you state-provided care on the same terms as an Italian resident, which means the same co-payment rather than nothing, and does not cover repatriation
US Embassy: the United States Embassy in Rome. Rome, with a consulate general in Naples and a consular agency in Palermo, which is the nearer contact for Sicily at about three hours away
Official tourism authority: ENIT, the Italian national tourist board. With the Ragusa tourist office for the city bus between Ibla and the upper town, which is the thing that makes the two levels manageable, and for which churches and museums cut their winter hours
This city is steps: 242 on the Scala di Santa Maria delle Scale, constant climbs in Ibla, and polished limestone that is slippery wet. The city bus between the two levels is the answer in at least one direction.
Altitude changes the forecast: Ragusa is at about 500 metres and is several degrees cooler than the coast at Marina di Ragusa, with a real winter rather than a Sicilian-mild one.
Driving in Ibla: narrow, one-way and partly pedestrianised. Park in the upper town or the designated lots and walk down.
US State Department travel advisory: the Italy advisory. Read the current level there directly rather than relying on a figure printed in any guide.
UK FCDO travel advice: gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice/italy, and read the safety and security page rather than only the landing page, because that is where the substance sits.
Solo women safety assessment: Ragusa is one of the safest and quietest provincial cities in Italy and very straightforward to travel alone. Ibla and the Corso Italia fill up in the early evening for the passeggiata, eating alone is completely unremarkable, and both halves of the city are small, walkable and well lit. The pickpocketing that dominates Italian travel advice belongs to Rome, Florence, Venice, Palermo and Catania, and there is very little of it here; what does apply is car crime, so nothing visible is left in a parked hire car, in this province or anywhere in Sicily, and a theft needs the in-person denuncia an insurer requires. Foreign visitor numbers are modest, English is less common than in the big Sicilian cities, and a few words of Italian go further here than they would in Taormina. Attention to a woman travelling alone tends to be conversational rather than aggressive and a polite lack of interest ends it. The genuine hazards are physical rather than social. The city is a staircase: 242 steps on the Scala, constant climbs and drops through Ibla, and limestone polished smooth over three centuries that is slick in rain and slippery even dry, which rules out smooth soles and makes the handrails worth using. Summer heat at 31C on unshaded pale stone is the second, and the Sicilian habit of avoiding the middle of the day is the answer to it. The third is driving: Ibla's lanes are narrow, one-way and partly pedestrianised, and the rural roads across the Iblei plateau are unlit with stone walls at the edge. Anyone with knee or hip trouble should treat the city bus between the two levels as part of the plan rather than a concession.
Reading On
For the country-level picture, start with the Italy travel guide for women. For why wool rather than cotton matters in heat as well as cold, read the guide to merino wool base layers for women. Every destination we cover is indexed at the travel packing guide for women, and the base layers are at the Roman Trail collection.
If the outer journey is calling you, the inner one usually is too. Explore SoulMap at romantrail.com/blogs/soulmap.
