We had breakfast at our masseria underneath the tree. Our hosts presented us with some lovely bread, some cheese, marmalade, yogurt, and a hard boiled egg. The weather was perfect, and it seemed hard to tear ourselves away. But we are tourists, and tourists must tour!
Our first stop of the day was the charming town of Noto. In 1693, a massive earthquake destroyed this city and several other towns in southeast Sicily. The devastation was so complete in Noto that they local leaders decided to rebuilt the city on a new site several kilometers away. Unlike medieval Noto, a maze of narrow winding streets, the new city was laid out logically on a grid. Churches and government buildings would be on the main street and nearby would be the houses of the nobility of the area. The less prosperous were relegated to high up the hill. The late eighteenth century obsession with beautiful vistas had not yet influenced city planning. And the whole town was constructed in the most modern style of the time, what architectural historians call “Sicilian Baroque."
The Duomo or cathedral dominates the town square, as you might expect in Italy. Like most of the buildings in this town, it is made of a handsome yellow stone. It has been recently restored so that it shines like it did on the day it was consecrated.
It took a while to build this church, and by the time they did the great age of the Sicilian Baroque had passed. The interior is basically neoclassical and frankly a little dull. A bit of the old Baroque style did remain in this side chapel now used for reservation of the Blessed Sacrament.
Coming out of the church I admired the skyline of the town.
We went to the city hall across the street. They were happy to show us their “Hall of Mirrors” that they use for weddings and for civic events. It is hardly the room of the same name in Versailles, but it would not be a bad place to sign a marriage license. John and I were fascinated by the possibilities of two mirrors facing each other more than the mediocre trompe l’oeil on ceiling.
As we left city hall, John noticed a group of tourists heading into another church and decided that we should investigate it, too. This was the Chiesa di San Carlo, and it had some interesting little quirks. For one thing, there seemed to be a big obsession with what I think were griffins. Here are a couple by the main altar
and also supporting the pulpit.
We figured out that the reason the tourists were lined up here was the for a small fee you could ascent the bell tower for panoramic views of the town. John has vertigo issues, but he insisted I go up and take some pictures. So, thanks to the iPhone panorama settings, here is Noto from on high.
While I did the hard work of climbing up and dozens of narrow winding stairs, John went off to get gelato. He sent me a text telling me that he was across the street from the small opera house, But when I arrive at the square, I heard not belle canto but the sound of motorcycles. Apparently, it was a big Sunday meeting for the local Vespa clubs. There were at least two hundred people there, many of vintage scooters.
Somebody gave a signal and all at once they were down the street in a suffocating cloud of exhaust and ear-splitting noise.
We stopped in at the Noto Opera House. This is a tiny place and I think I read that it only seats about 350 people. It is named for Tina de Lorenzo, the daughter of some Milanese noble and a Neapolitan actress. The materials were not too clear on whether they were married or not. At any rate, she had a pretty impressive career at the end of the nineteenth century. I think this was one of her favored spots.
Of course, you know where there’s a stage you’ll probably find John on it!
On our way back to the car, we stopped in at a totally forgettable museum. We went back to our farmhouse to observe the Italian custom of “riposo."
In the evening, John convinced me we should drive into Siracusa to check out Ortigia, the old part of the town. He thought it would be a great place for an evening passegiatta. I was not excited about driving through narrow streets at night, but how can I turn John down? Our GPS, whom I have named Greta Garmin, was not always the best about picking the simplest route for us, but we finally made it. I only made one possibly disastrous mistake when I turned on a one way street just as a police car was coming out. He made some vaguely less than polite gesture, but I escaped with no ticket. We found parking by the marina.
As we walked across the bridge into Ortigia, a woman was hawking harbor cruises. As it was not that expensive and we did not have much time, we bought tickets. We were the only passengers on what was obviously the last run of the day.
Our skipper spoke only a little English, but my Italian was good enough to mostly follow what he was telling us.
John admired scenery all around .
The harbor is dominated by an enormous medieval fortress.
We asked about this enormous structure that dominates the city skyline. Our captain explained that it is the "Santuario Madonna delle Lacrime.” He said that there was a statue of Mary that once cried and the because of this the church is shaped like a giant teardrop. Apparently John Paul II dedicated this architectural monstrosity.
After getting off the boat, we wandered around the town. Siracusa is one of the oldest settlements in Sicily, and it was one of the most important cities of “Greater Greece,” the settlement of Greek-speaking colonies around the Mediterranean in the third and second centuries before the common era. Here is the old agora.
We came across this cart. Puppetry is a great old Sicilian tradition, and puppeteers used to go from town to town in wildly decorated carts like this. This is not an old cart, but represents the desire by modern Sicilian artists to connect with their heritage. The pictures were fanciful and some were a bit risqué.
John took this picture of two girls taking a break from their stroll. As a chubby kid turned chubby adult, I feel for the girl.
John also loved these ladies who seemed straight out of a Fellini movie.
We had dinner at the Medusa restaurant. It is recommended in all the guidebooks. The food was decent, but not astonishing. The wifi was far better than the bread.
As we were walking back, we came across a band concert on the steps of the Duomo.
They were not all the great, but the audience was appreciative.
