On 11 January 1693, a catastrophic earthquake struck southeastern Sicily, destroying dozens of towns and killing tens of thousands of people. What happened next is one of the great chapters in the history of town planning. Noto, which stood on a hill some kilometres away, was abandoned, and a new town was built from scratch on a gentler slope, with a grid of streets, grand stairways, churches and palaces, all in the soft, honey-coloured local limestone that glows gold and pink at sunset. Together with seven other towns rebuilt after the earthquake, including Ragusa, Modica and Scicli, Noto was listed by UNESCO in 2002 as the Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto.
The main street, the Corso Vittorio Emanuele, runs through the town past the cathedral, which partially collapsed in 1996 and was painstakingly restored, reopening in 2007. Around it, palaces with extravagant balconies held up by carved monsters, horses and cherubs line the side streets; the balconies of the Palazzo Nicolaci on Via Corrado Nicolaci are especially wild. In May, the Infiorata festival covers that street with intricate designs made of flower petals. Wandering at dusk, when the stone glows and the evening passeggiata fills the streets, is one of the great pleasures of Sicily.
The food deserves its fame. Noto is known for its granita, especially almond, and for its pastry shops, where you can have a granita with a brioche for breakfast, as Sicilians do on summer mornings.
The surrounding countryside is a landscape of almond and olive groves, carob trees and dry-stone walls, crossed by deep limestone gorges, the cave, with ancient tombs cut into their walls. The roads between Noto, Palazzolo Acreide and Ragusa wind through this landscape with long, flowing bends and little traffic. To the south, the coast has beautiful beaches and the Vendicari nature reserve, a coastal wetland where flamingos winter. The roads can be patched and potholed, and in summer the heat is fierce, so ride early in the day.
Noto has fuel, garages, hotels and restaurants. Avola, a few kilometres away, gives its name to Nero d'Avola, the grape behind Sicily's best-known red wine; try a glass with dinner, not before the ride.