Why this ride
From Modica it runs 285 km to Modica; allow about 6 h 10 of riding. It goes by way of Palazzolo Acreide, Necropolis of Pantalica, Epipolae and Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Modica and Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 285 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 6 h 10
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. 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.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Modica is where the day begins. Next is Palazzolo Acreide.
2. Palazzolo Acreide
Long before the Baroque churches, there were the Greeks. In the seventh century BC, settlers from Syracuse founded a hilltop outpost here called Akrai, controlling the routes into the interior of Sicily. The remains of their town lie on the hill above modern Palazzolo Acreide: a small, beautifully preserved Greek theatre with views over the hills, stone quarries turned into burial chambers, and the Santoni, a series of rock-cut figures of the goddess Cybele, carved into a cliff face, weathered but still powerful.
Read the complete Palazzolo Acreide write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Palazzolo Acreide comes up about 40 km into the recorded legs. Next is Necropolis of Pantalica.
3. Necropolis of Pantalica
Thousands of small square doorways riddle the limestone cliffs above the Anapo and Calcinara valleys, like the windows of a vast abandoned apartment block. These are rock-cut tombs, some five thousand of them, carved by the people who lived at Pantalica between roughly the thirteenth and seventh centuries before Christ. Together with Syracuse, the necropolis is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and it is one of the most evocative places in Sicily, in a gorge of the Hyblaean Mountains west of Syracuse, between the towns of Sortino and Ferla.
Read the complete Necropolis of Pantalica write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 69 km into the recorded legs you reach Necropolis of Pantalica. Next is Epipolae.
4. 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, about halfway. Next is Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto.
5. 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.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto sits at 114 km, about halfway. Next is back through Epipolae.
6. 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 comes up about 186 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Necropolis of Pantalica.
7. back through Necropolis of Pantalica
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Necropolis of Pantalica write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 216 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Necropolis of Pantalica. Next is back through Palazzolo Acreide.
8. back through Palazzolo Acreide
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Palazzolo Acreide write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Palazzolo Acreide, late in the day. Next is Modica.
9. Modica
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Modica write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 285 km.
Leg by leg
Modica to Palazzolo Acreide
Modica → Palazzolo Acreide is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Palazzolo Acreide to Necropolis of Pantalica
Palazzolo Acreide → Necropolis of Pantalica is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Necropolis of Pantalica to Epipolae
Necropolis of Pantalica → Epipolae is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Epipolae to Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto
Epipolae → Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto is 36 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto to back through Epipolae
Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto → back through Epipolae is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Epipolae to back through Necropolis of Pantalica
back through Epipolae → back through Necropolis of Pantalica is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Necropolis of Pantalica to back through Palazzolo Acreide
back through Necropolis of Pantalica → back through Palazzolo Acreide is 30 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Palazzolo Acreide to Modica
back through Palazzolo Acreide → Modica is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Necropolis of Pantalica and Ragusa · 134 km
- Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Panta and Scicli · 270 km
- Epipolae and Scicli · 255 km