Page 98 - Lonely Planet Europe’s Best Trips (Travel Guide)

deliers, frescoed ceilings island neighbourhood
b Noto and crafty wall paintings connected to the modern
Flattened in 1693 by designed to look like town by bridge.
an earthquake, Noto brocaded wallpaper. It’s difficult to imagine
was rebuilt quickly and 5 p99 now but in its heyday
Syracuse was the larg-
grandly, and its golden-
hued sandstone build- The Drive » The 39km drive est city in the ancient
to Syracuse from Noto takes
ings make it the finest you down the SP59 and then world, bigger even than
baroque town in Sicily, northeast on the A18, past Athens and Corinth.
especially impressive at the majestic Riserva Naturale The Parco Archeologico
night when illuminations Cavagrande del Cassibile as you della Neapolis (%0931
accentuate its intricately parallel Sicily’s eastern coast. 6 62 06; Viale Paradiso 14;
carved facades. The pièce adult/reduced €10/5, incl
de résistance is Corso TRIP HIGHLIGHT Museo Archeologico €13.50/7;
Vittorio Emanuele, an h8.30am-1.45pm Mon, last
elegantly manicured c Syracuse entry 12.45pm, 8.30am-7.30pm
walkway flanked by Encapsulating Sicily’s Tue-Sun, last entry 6pm) is
thrilling baroque palazzi timeless beauty, Syracuse home to a staggering
and churches. is a dense tapestry of number of well-preserved
Just off Corso Vittorio overlapping cultures and Greek (and Roman)
Emanuele, Palazzo Nico- civilisations. Ancient remains, with the
laci di Villadorata (%338 Greek ruins rise out of remarkably intact 5th-
ITALY 6 WONDERS OF ANCIENT SICILY
7427022; www.comune.noto. lush citrus orchards, century-BC Teatro Greco
as the main attraction.
sr.it/palazzo-nicolaci; Via cafe tables spill out onto
Corrado Nicolaci; €4; h10am- baroque piazzas, and In the grounds of Villa
Landolina, about 500m
1.30pm & 2.30-7pm) reveals medieval lanes meander
the luxury to which to the sea. Your visit, like east of the archaeologi-
cal park, is the Museo
the local nobility were the city itself, can be split
accustomed. The decor is into two easy parts: one Archeologico Paolo
as opulent as the facade, dedicated to the archaeo- Orsi (%0931 48 95 11; www.
with heavy glass chan- logical site, the other regione.sicilia.it/beniculturali/
to Ortygia, the ancient museopaoloorsi; Viale Teocrito
66; adult/reduced €8/4, incl
Parco Archeologico €13.50/7;
THE 1693 EARTHQUAKE h9am-6pm Tue-Sat, to 1pm
Sun).
On 11 January 1693, a devastating, 7.4-magnitude Despite the labyrin-
earthquake hit southeastern Sicily, destroying thine streets, it is hard to
buildings from Catania to Ragusa. The destruction get lost on Ortygia, since
was terrible, but it also created a blank palette for it measures less than 1
architects to rebuild the region’s cities and towns sq km. And yet it also
out of whole cloth, in the latest style and according manages to encompass
to rational urban planning – a phenomenon 25 centuries of history. At
practically unheard of since ancient times. In fact, the its heart, the city’s 7th-
earthquake ushered in an entirely new architectural century Duomo (Piazza
style known as Sicilian baroque, defined by its del Duomo; adult/reduced
seductive curves and elaborate detail, which you can €2/1; h9am-6.30pm Mon-Sat
see on display in Ragusa, Modica, Catania and many Apr-Oct, to 5.30pm Nov-Mar)
other cities in the region. lords it over Piazza del

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