iwna2016spring

This exoticism feeds into everything, from the fusion architecture to

the fabulous food. I’m with my strawberry-blond Sicilian guide, Pilar,

blessed with a Spanish name, Norman looks, and a baroque mind.

Pilar tells me that politically incorrect Sicilians still refer to dark-haired

girls as Moors, and blonds or redheads as Normans.

We’re eating orange and fennel

insalata

(salad), a legacy of Arab

rule, and shedding stereotypes with every bite. The Mafia will not fea-

ture on our tour, except perhaps through the eyes of Inspector Salvo

Montalbano, the wildly popular (fictional) Sicilian TV detective.

Southeastern Sicily is seen as a haven beyond the Mafia’s reptilian

gaze. Centered on the town of Ragusa, this aloof rural region has

been referred to as “an island within an island.” While the west of

Sicily was historically neglected by absentee barons, here the local

gentry cherished the land.

As for baroque, the heavily decorated style that has become the

region’s calling card, “It goes beyond buildings — it’s about how we

see the world,” says Pilar. Construction after the devastating 1693

earthquake ushered in a golden age for Sicilian architecture. The

UNESCOWorld Heritage site–designated towns of Ragusa, Modica,

Scicli, and Noto are a riot of ornamentation, fanciful balconies, and

flowing staircases. It’s a game of silhouettes and tricksy perspectives.

But baroque is also about Sicilian excess, distortion, decadence, and

disguise — light and shade in all senses.

RECONSTRUCTED RAGUSA

Ragusa, set on nearly the same latitude as Tunis, Tunisia, sits atop a

dramatic mountain spur riddled by ravines. The 1693 earthquake

didn’t entirely wipe the slate clean here. Ragusa Ibla, the broodingly

baroque lower town, was rebuilt on a medieval street plan by nobles

too enamored with the place to leave. In Ibla, all roads lead to Piazza

Duomo, the sublime central square, and it’s here that we head after

our lunch. The sloping square is lined with palms and princely man-

sions, but dominated by Rosario Gagliardi’s San Giorgio cathedral, a

baroque masterpiece. My gaze is drawn up from its convex center,

seemingly writhing with statues, to its wedding-cake crescendo.

Sicilian film director Roberto Ando believes baroque is “a paradigm of

Sicily — tortuous, eccentric, secretive, the endless search for a form.”

A short walk away, the sculpted balconies of the palace known

as Palazzo Cosentini are a melange of fantastic bare-breasted sirens

and monsters with flaring nostrils. Leering faces proffer scorpions or

serpents instead of tongues, a warning not to gossip. But curiosity

gets the better of me when passing the “conversation club,” Circolo

di Conversazione. I poke my nose into the nobles’ private club and

am soon chatting with Baron Arezzo, whose former family castle,

Castello di Donnafugata, now acts as the lair of the Mafia boss in the

Montalbano series. He unlocks his palace and private theater and

offers us a tour. Only in Sicily is such hospitality and spontaneity the

norm. People are proud, keen to show their homes (or palaces) to

any visitor showing a bit of courtesy, interest, and enthusiasm.

My guide and I idle away the day, exploring secret shrines, family

crests, and decorative fountains. Ibla is intimate, shifting from showy

staircases and tawny mansions to hidden gardens and filigree bal-

conies hung with laundry. For a gastronomic feast, Pilar recommends

Il Duomo by the main square. Here, Michelin-starred chef Ciccio

Sultano creates magic with local lamb, pistachios, fennel,

almond sorbet, ricotta-stuffed cannoli, and Nero d’Avola

wine. The culinarian can also talk the talk: “My cooking

is voluptuously baroque because I am baroque: I never

remove anything from my recipes but just pile on more.”

MODICA: UPPER AND LOWER

Between Ragusa and neighboring Modica, rugged

limestone plains are carved into angular crests and

canyons. Modica itself is multilayered, with tiers of sump-

tuous churches and shabby palaces stacked on the hill.

The next afternoon we clamber up the sweeping stair-

case to San Giorgio cathedral (this one also designed by

Gagliardi, and considered to be his greatest triumph).

Lisa Gerard-Sharp; Giulio Ercolani/Alamy Stock Photo

Ragusa

Noto

Modica

Scicli

“INVADE SICILY

— EVERYONE ELSE HAS”

MIGHT BE THIS ITALIAN ISLAND’S RALLYING

CRY. SICILY’S DNA IS GREEK, ROMAN, ARAB,

NORMAN, NORTH AFRICAN, AND SPANISH.

INTERVAL WORLD Spring 2016 IntervalWorld.com

The tiny fishing village of Punta Secca

is the location of fictional character

Inspector Montalbano’s seaside home.