Catania and Ragusa

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Catania

   Catania has been knocked down and rebuilt so many times that it has made a style out of resilience. Lava from Etna overran parts of the city in 1669, and then in 1693 a devastating earthquake flattened it almost entirely. The rebuilding produced one of the most striking Baroque cities in Italy, built with dark grey lava stone set off against pale limestone, with wide straight streets designed to offer escape routes in future disasters. The centre is part of the Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto World Heritage Site, and Etna looms over everything, often smoking at the end of the Via Etnea.

   Read the complete Catania write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Catania is where the day begins. Next is Epipolae.

2. 2. Epipolae

   Above Syracuse the land rises in a long limestone terrace, a triangle of high ground pointing inland, and the ancient Greeks called it Epipolae, the place above the city. Whoever held it held Syracuse. During the great Athenian expedition against the city, between 415 and 413 BC, the fight for this plateau decided the war: the Athenians tried to wall Syracuse in from here, the Syracusans and their Spartan allies built counter-walls, and in the end the Athenian army was destroyed, with thousands of prisoners left to die in the stone quarries below. A few years later the tyrant Dionysius I enclosed the entire plateau with walls many kilometres long, and at its western tip he built the Castello Eurialo, one of the most complete Greek fortresses anywhere.

   Read the complete Epipolae write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Epipolae comes up about 60 km into the recorded legs. Next is Ragusa.

3. 3. 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.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 149 km into the recorded legs you reach Ragusa. Next is back through Epipolae.

4. 4. back through Epipolae

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Epipolae write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Epipolae, late in the day. Next is Catania.

5. 5. Catania

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Catania write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Catania. That is the ride.