What are the best places to visit in Sicily? The island is a real box of tresures and here we present just some of the many beautiful places to visit, if you decide to spend 6 days in Sicily.
Best places to visit in Sicily: the Greek colonies and the Sicilian baroque
Valley of the Temples Agrigento. Amog the best places to visit in Sicily, surely there are famous cities in the southern side of the island. You cannot miss the first UNESCO site of Sicily, nominated in 1997, the Valley of the Temples Agrigento, which is one of the best examples of the Greek art and architecture. Here you can find the ruins of seven temples in Doric style, as the temple of Concordia Agrigento, built in the V century b.C. and whose name comes from a Latin inscription founded nearby.
The archeological area of Agrigento is not the only thing to see here. The city is set at the top of a hill where you can admire a beautiful view and you will be fascinated by its historical centre with narrow streets and beautiful churches. But you can also have a walk along the beach where you can find the well-known “Scala dei Turchi”, which is a white calcareous cliff with the shape of a staircase.
Syracuse Sicily. During your 6 days in Sicily you must visit Syracuse Sicily, which is known for its rich Greek and Roman history, culture and architecture. Among the things to see in Syracuse Sicily you cannot miss the archeological area, where you will find the biggest Greek theatre of the island, the Roman amphitheatre, and the “Orecchio of Dioniso” which is a “latomìa”, a stone cave, also used as prison.
In the city centre of Syracuse Sicily, you can admire beautiful monuments as the Cathedral built by the bishop Zosimo in the VII century over the ruins of the great temple of Athena. Parts of the temple can be seen still today incorporated in the walls of the current church. Walking along the seaside we can admire the Fountain of Aretusa, set in Ortigia island and Maniace castle, which is an example of the military architecture built in the XIII century, characterized by a portal decorated with polychrome marble.
The late Baroque towns of Val di Noto. One of the best places to visit in Sicily is also the city of Noto Sicily, where you can admire the enchanting Sicilian baroque. Noto is set at the foot of the Iblean Mountains and in 2002 it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You will fall in love walking along the main street where you will admire the Cathedral of Noto, built in the XVIII century with the Sicilian baroque style.
Another city where you can admire the Sicilian baroque style is Modica Sicily which is famous also for the Modica chocolate, known not only in Sicily but also in Italy. It is inspired by a very old Aztec recipe using manual grinding which gives the chocolate a peculiar grainy texture and aromatic flavour.
Another city where you can admire the Sicilian baroque style is Modica Sicily which is famous also for the Modica chocolate, known not only in Sicily but also in Italy. It is inspired by a very old Aztec recipe using manual grinding which gives the chocolate a peculiar grainy texture and aromatic flavour.
In the area around the late Baroque towns of Val di Noto there is another city you must visit and it is Ragusa Sicily, set on a wide limestone hill between two deep valleys. It is divided in two areas, the ancient one, which is also the lower and older town named Ragusa Ibla, and the higher Ragusa Superiore or Upper Town. In the lower city you can admire beautiful baroque architectures as the Cathedral of San Giorgio built in the XVIII century. It was destroyed in the earthquake of 1693 but the ancient Catalan – Gothic portal can still be see. Instead, the dome is made with the Neoclassical style.
Among the Ragusa attractions there is the Cathedral of Ragusa Superiore, dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, which was originally located in the western part of the city, under the walls of the Medieval Castle. After the 1693 earthquake it was rebuilt where we can see today. In this church we can admire three beautiful baroque portals representing the Madonna, Saint John the Baptist and Saint John Evangelist.
In this beautiful cities surely you can experience the ancient history but you can also enjoy your time doing shopping along its narrow streets and small shops where you can be enchanted by the Sicilian pottery, that reproduces the symbols and icons of the island as the Trinacria, the image of a female face with three legs which is the emblem of Sicily because it reproduces the triangular shape of the island with its three Capes. Other symbols of the island are the “pinecone” and the “Teste di Moro”, the heads of a man and a woman that tell us an ancient Sicilian legend.
Here we mentioned just few of the best places to visit in Sicily if you have just 6 days in Sicily, but we are sure that you would desire to come back to discover the beauties and the histories of the entire island!
