Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
a Ragusa apartment. The owners even bring up morning breakfast from the cof-
fee bar below.
The finest restaurant in Ibla is
Il Duomo
(Via Bocchieri, 31;
%
0932-
651265),
just a block from the cathedral in the old town. Try the bread home-
made from local wheat, and dip it in some of the 20-odd types of olive oil. Menus
change with the seasons, and main courses range from
€
9 to
€
16. Also near the
cathedral is
La Bettola
(Largo Camerina, 7;
%
0932-653377),
with its kitschy,
1940s pre-war decor. My favorite dishes are the homemade penne and the herb-
infused chicken breast.
€€
-
€€€
SIRACUSA
Siracusa was the most important of all the Greek cities on the coast of Sicily. In
its prime, it took on both Carthage and Rome. The modern town of Siracusa has
little to recommend; what visitors flock here for is the
historic island of Ortygia,
one of my favorite places on earth. Ortygia, the Old City, has been inhabited for
thousands of years. The Duomo is here, as well as many ancient ruins, small crafts
shops, boutiques, and charming, family-run restaurants. And, of course, there's
the sea slapping relentlessly against the shore.
If you have your own transportation, approach Siracusa by the coast. Mt. Etna
looms overhead, with its plume of smoke billowing in the wind. Over the cen-
turies, Siracusa produced some of Sicily's most creative thinkers, from the Greek
poet Epicharmus to the physicist and mathematician Archimedes, to the winner
of the 1959 Nobel Prize for Literature, Salvatore Quasimodo. It also offers travel-
ers a good number of choices, and good value, for both dining and sleeping.
ACCOMMODATIONS & DINING
Siracusa has a wide range of places in which to sleep, partly because in summer a
number of families convert their homes into makeshift B&Bs. I'd start with
www.sleepinsicily.it
, which offers rooms in places like the
Hotel Residence
Siracusa,
in the heart of Ortygia, for as little as
€
50 a night. These can only be
booked through this website. Listings change often from season to season, but all
the rooms I saw were spotlessly clean and comfortable, with friendly hosts.
By far the favorite hotel for return visitors is
Domus Mariae
(Via V.
Veneto, 76;
%
0931-24854; www.sistemia.it/domusmariae),
a converted convent
attached to a working convent (which rents out rooms as well, when the hotel is
full). Domus Mariae is known for its impeccable, friendly service, perhaps because
it's run by nuns who seem to live vicariously through their visitors, always curious
about the day's excursions and genuinely pleased to meet new people. The rooms
are large, especially considering the locale in the center of Ortygia, with colorful,
modern furnishings. You can almost always get a sea view if you book ahead, and
you can just as easily get a discount on your room if you forfeit the view. Double
rooms start at
€
105 without a view,
€
135 with a view. The one oddity here:
Rooms are cleaned only every other day.
€€€
