21-Jan-2025
The key thing about Ragusa is that it was wiped out by an earthquake in 1693. More than 5,000 people were killed, but the 18th-century reconstruction made it quite extraordinary. It was divided into two: Upper Ragusa on the plateau, and Ragusa Ibla, built on the pattern of the ancient city on the outcrop. The Baroque architectural gems produced by this renaissance were put on UNESCO's world heritage list in 2002.
We caught the train. There aren't many options, so we needed an early start to make it to the 0646:
The still dark railway station. Actually, this building is pretty much abandoned at any time of day. Buy your ticket online...
Kind of atmospheric environs, though
It's a very scenic journey from the get-go
What makes it particularly interesting is that part of the route involves a spiral. The line passes beneath the cliffs of Ragusa Ibla (about 300 metres above sea level). Then, to get into the upper part of Ragusa, it has to gain about 200 metres of altitude. After passing through Ibla station (no longer operative), it goes round in a big half-circle north of the town, comes back towards Ragusa, tunnels its way underneath the northern part of the city, emerges into a little valley, and then goes round in a complete spiral (about a third of it is in a tunnel, but this view was taken from an open part), to eventually pop out in the town, and glide towards Ragusa station
More views from the spiral
Dah DAH: Finally at the station
This map gives a bit of an idea of the railway's spectacular course. Curly-wurly or what?
It was pretty damn cold in Ragusa (500 metres up, remember) in the early hours of this morning. Hat-and-gloves cold, which is rare in these parts. First stop, then, was a little cafe, where we could plot a route over a nice hot cappuccino.
The Cathedral of St John the Baptist, in the upper part of town. We spent quite a bit of time here
A feature of Ragusa that we'd not previously noticed anywhere else was the faces that appear under balconies and at odd corners:
The topography starts astonishing, and carries on that way. These views are all taken on the way to Ragusa Ibla (the lower bit):
And now we're in Ragusa Ibla, looking out in various directions:
That's actually the railway line you can see through the arch
The disused Ibla station from the Giardino Ibleo, on the end of the outcrop
Plus there's lots of fine countryside
And now, from the other end of the outcrop, we're looking back at the completely improbable upper bit of Ragusa
The Cathedral of St George, Ragusa Ibla
It was an interesting (though probably not healthful) food day:
Scacce Ragusane are a kind of stuffed flatbread. This one is filled with ricotta and onion, and came from Panificio Giummarra
And here's St Francis blessing our lunch
A bit chilled from this outdoor picnic, we buzzed up the road for hot chocolate (the thick sort that you spoon rather than drink), and a macalle, which is a bit like a cannolo, but the outside is doughnut-reminiscent:
Us, back at the station. Even with a mirror, our selfies suck
It was a slightly tedious journey home, as we stopped for quite a while in a tunnel, for undisclosed reasons.
Nevertheless, an awesome destination and an equally impressive route to get there.