Modica as you can see is an attractive historic town, one of the area’s UNESCO-listed Baroque towns. Modica is particularly famous for its chocolate, do try it, and it is an appealing destination for food-lovers, Greek and Roman history, archaeological exploration, hiking, Sicilian ceramic art and other cultural activities. All making it a good holiday base for inexhaustible enjoyment and learning.
Modica is situated in the dramatic landscape of the Monti Iblei, a range of high ground divided up by deep valleys and surprisingly populous towns. Important in Medieval times, Modica was rebuilt after the great earthquake of 1693 and now boasts fine late-Baroque architecture as well as a medieval old town.
Modica is built around a junction of steep valleys, with the oldest part of town, Modica Alta (‘Upper Modica’) on a ridge in between. Modica Bassa (‘Lower Modica’) is the more recent (though still historic) district along the valley bottoms. Rivers once ran down Modica’s valleys, lined with buildings, but after a terrible flood in 1902, when they burst their banks, they were covered over. The town’s main street, Corso Umberto I, is at the circle just down the hill from Casa di Frutta. It follows the course of one of these rivers, in the valley to the west of Modica Alta. Nowadays the busiest part of the town centre is at the junction of two valleys where Corso Umberto opens into Piazza Municipio, overlooked by an eighteenth-century hilltop clock tower which you can see from the house.
