48 Hours in ... Sicily, with Inspector Montelbano

FORTY-EIGHT HOURS IN THE SPLENDID CORNER OF SICILY WHERE THE TELEVISION SERIES IS SET

 

An island within an island. This is what the south-eastern area  of Sicily, which includes Ragusa and its surroundings, has historically been called, underscoring its natural beauty.

 

While Andrea Camiliri's Detective Montalbano novels are actually set in the Agrigento area, the Montelbano on TV, played by Luca Zingaretti, spends his time in the Ragusa area. The television series has conveyed the beauty of this corner of Sicily to millions of viewers worldwide, generating a new kind of tourism that visit the locations serving this naturally beautiful and historic set. Traveling in these areas means admiring stunning landscapes and being immersed in the unique cultural heritage.  But it also means stopping to savour a glass of Cerasuolo wind, like that found at Giusto Occhipinti's COS wine cellar, or a fine Frappato from Arianna Occhipinti (the winery bears the founder's name), which has relaunched the Ragusan area's viticulture nationwide.

 

Along the piazzas and alleyways of Ragusa Ibia, the old city rebuilt in Baroque style after the 1693 earthquake and included, along with the entire val di Noto on the UNESCO World Heritage List, you see magnificent churches, including the imposing Basilica di San Giorgio (1) overlooking Piazza Duomo, where Detective Montelbano enjoys having breakfast at the cafe with his colleagues in the imaginary town of Vigata. Linger in the neighbourhood for lunch, enjoying chef Ciccio Sultano's fine cuisine at Duomo (2), a restaurant with two Michelin stars to its credit. Standing in the same piazza is the Neoclassical palazzo "Circolo di Conversazione" (3), where the medical examiner Pasquano often plays cards, at least until interrupted by the Detective. On the other side, Piazza Pola is home to the Church of San Giuseppe (4), built in the mid 1700's at the initiative of the Benedictine nuns, as well as the City Hall with its Renaissance-style facade, seen in some episodes of the TV series as the police station's exterior.

 

But to find the interior of Montelbano's office, you have to continue on to the City Hall of another gorgeous Baroque historical center, that of Scicli, just a few kilometers from the sea.  Here, in Piazza Italia, Palazzo Iacono (5) provides the exteriors for the Montelusa police headquarters.

 

Now take the road for Santa Croce Camerina and travel along the sea-shore to reach Castello di Donnafugata (6), the nineteenth-century home of the Baron of Arezzo, but on TV home to Mafia boss Don Balduccio Sinagra.  End with a return to the beach at Punta Secca (7), where Detective Montelbano lives in the house with the splendid terrace with its breathtaking view of the Mediterranean.

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