CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 414 km round trip from Valletta - roughly 7 h 59 in the saddle. On the way it passes Scicli, Modica, Ragusa and Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto. It crosses from Malta into Italy - carry ID and check the toll rules. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
Valletta is smaller than most people expect, a city on a peninsula, built on a grid and finished almost in one go. It is named for Jean de Valette, the Grand Master of the Knights of St John, who led the defence of Malta during the Great Siege of 1565, when an Ottoman fleet landed and fought for months before withdrawing. Afterwards the Knights decided to build a new fortified capital on the bare ridge between two deep harbours, and construction began in 1566. The streets run straight, sloping down to the water in steps, and bastions rise from the sea. The whole city is on the UNESCO list, and it was a European Capital of Culture in 2018.
Read the complete Valletta write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Valletta is where the day begins. Next is Scicli.
In January 1693 an earthquake flattened much of south-eastern Sicily, and the towns that rose from the rubble were rebuilt in a confident, theatrical late baroque style. Scicli is one of the eight towns of the Val di Noto listed by UNESCO for that reason, and it may be the most charming. It sits at the meeting of three limestone gorges, with a rocky hill above crowned by the ruins of the old church of San Matteo, and a centre of honey-coloured churches and palaces whose balconies are held up by carved grotesque faces, horses, sirens and monsters.
Read the complete Scicli write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Scicli comes up 50 km in. Next is Modica.
Modica was destroyed in 1693, rebuilt in a hurry, and the result is one of the most dramatic baroque towns in Europe. A great earthquake that January killed tens of thousands across south-eastern Sicily, and the towns of the Val di Noto rose again in a new style, with curved facades, carved balconies and grotesque stone faces looking down from the corners. UNESCO listed eight of them together in 2002, and Modica is one of the finest. It occupies two steep ridges and the gorge between them, and the houses climb up the sides in layers, so that a walk through the streets is mostly a matter of steps.
Read the complete Modica write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
At least 110 km in you reach Modica. Next is Ragusa.
In 1693 a terrible earthquake destroyed much of south-eastern Sicily, and the towns of the Val di Noto were rebuilt in the baroque style of the time, creating a group of towns of extraordinary beauty, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Ragusa is one of them, a town divided into two parts: Ragusa Superiore, the newer town on the ridge, built after the earthquake, and Ragusa Ibla, the old town on a lower hill, rebuilt on its medieval street plan.
Read the complete Ragusa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ragusa, about halfway. Next is Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto.
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.
Read the complete Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto sits at 199 km, about halfway. Next is back through Ragusa.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ragusa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Ragusa comes up 249 km in. Next is back through Modica.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Modica write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
299 km in you reach back through Modica. Next is back through Scicli.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Scicli write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Scicli, late in the day. Next is Valletta.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Valletta write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 414 km.
Valletta → Scicli is 136 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Scicli → Modica is 12 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Modica → Ragusa is 10 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Ragusa → Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto → back through Ragusa is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Ragusa → back through Modica is 10 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Modica → back through Scicli is 12 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Scicli → Valletta is 136 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.