# Two nights in the Val di Noto from Catania: Ortigia by boat, Noto and Vendicari, Modica chocolate and down to Ragusa Ibla Ortigia from the sea, a night in Noto's Palazzo Nicolaci, Vendicari in the morning, chocolate and osteria in Modica, and the walk down to Ragusa Ibla. Fuente: https://www.geocalia.com/en/italy/sicily/val-di-noto/itineraries/two-nights-ortigia-modica-ragusa · Revisado: 2026-11-12 Dónde: Val di Noto The Val di Noto in a day from Catania falls short: the baroque cities of the south-east are close to one another, but each needs its own time and afternoon light. With two nights you begin in Syracuse, seeing Ortigia from the sea, sleep inside a palace in Noto, swim at Vendicari, taste Modica chocolate in its oldest workshop, sleep facing the old city of Modica and finish by walking down to Ragusa Ibla. ## How do you get there from Catania? From Spain, a direct flight to Catania and a hire car at the airport. From Catania to Syracuse it is an hour on the motorway; from Syracuse to Noto, the same motorway towards Gela. From Noto to Modica you go inland, and from Modica to Ragusa it is a short stretch. The return, from Ragusa to Catania, is about two hours. By bus you can reach Modica from the airport with AST, but this getaway needs a car. ## Where to stay? AccommodationAreaWho it suits Seven Rooms VilladorataNoto, inside Palazzo NicolaciTen frescoed rooms, a rooftop terrace and private parking Casa TalíaModica AltaStone houses with a terrace, garden and a small pool facing the city Eremo della GiubilianaRagusa countrysideFive-star in a fortified baglio, with pool and spa The first night, at Seven Rooms Villadorata, in the heart of Noto; from €500 a night, depending on the house. The second, at Casa Talía, in Modica Alta, with check-in until 19:00. If you want to swap the second night for countryside, a pool and a spa, the Eremo della Giubiliana is on the outskirts of Ragusa. ## Where to eat Three tables, three prices. Caffè Sicilia is breakfast: granitas, cannoli and the house bread on Noto's Corso, since 1892. Osteria dei Sapori Perduti is the mid-priced dinner, with the Muriana family's home cooking. Ristorante Duomo is the special lunch: two Michelin stars in Ibla, with a three-course midday menu at €70. ## What about one more day? Stay a third night at the Eremo della Giubiliana, in the Ragusa countryside, with a pool, spa and a Greek necropolis in the park, and spend the morning in Scicli, the smallest of the baroque cities. ## El plan ### Thursday · 09:00 · From Catania to Syracuse An hour by car on the motorway. Park before entering Ortigia. ### Thursday · 10:30 · Boat tour of Ortigia and the caves Siracusa in barca, from the Riva delle Poste: 1 h 15 min, €15, with swimming and snorkelling. Book by WhatsApp. ### Thursday · 13:00 · Stroll and lunch in Ortigia On your own, through the streets of the island. ### Thursday · 16:00 · Arrival in Noto Leave the car in the hotel car park and go up to the rooftop terrace. ### Thursday · 17:30 · Baroque stroll through Noto The Corso at sunset, San Nicolò cathedral and Via Nicolaci. Palazzo Nicolaci is open until 19:00. ### Friday · 08:30 · Granita at Caffè Sicilia Almond granita with brioche, on the Corso. Closed from 9 November to 18 December. ### Friday · 10:00 · Vendicari reserve Entry €3.50: tuna fishery, Swabian tower and swimming. No bars and no shade. ### Friday · 14:30 · Visit to the Fattojo of Bonajuto In Modica: 30 minutes with a tasting. Book the day on their website. ### Friday · 16:00 · Arrival at Casa Talía Park in the signposted car park and walk up. Pool with a view of the Duomo di San Giorgio. ### Friday · 20:00 · Dinner at Osteria dei Sapori Perduti On Corso Umberto: the house antipasto, macco di fave and ricotta ravioli. Book; closed on Tuesdays. ### Saturday · 10:00 · Down to Ragusa Ibla Park in Ragusa Superiore and go down the steps of Santa Maria delle Scale to the Duomo di San Giorgio. ### Saturday · 12:30 · Lunch at Ristorante Duomo Ciccio Sultano's midday menu, from €70, beside the Duomo. Book. ### Saturday · 15:30 · Giardino Ibleo and back to Catania About two hours by car to Catania. ## Consejos ### Book the first night well ahead Seven Rooms Villadorata has only ten rooms. ### Book the Fattojo and both lunches The visit has groups of 25 people at most and the Duomo fills up. ### Always park outside the centres Noto, Modica and Ibla have narrow streets and restricted traffic. ## Preguntas frecuentes ### Do you need a car? Yes. Buses and trains have too few departures to fit these stops into two days. ### Why Thursday to Saturday? Ristorante Duomo is closed on Sunday and Monday, and the Modica osteria on Tuesday. ### When should you go? From April to June and in September and October. To swim at Vendicari, from June to September. ### How much does it cost? Tickets are few: €3.50 Vendicari and €15 the boat. The biggest item is sleeping: Seven Rooms publishes prices from €500 a night. ## Dónde dormir if you're driving - **Seven Rooms Villadorata**, desde 500 € / night: Sleeping inside the Palazzo Nicolaci Seven Rooms Villadorata occupies a wing of the Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, the palace with balconies on brackets carved with grotesque figures on via Nicolaci, the street that is covered in flowers in May for the Infiorata. The hotel entrance is at via Cavour 53, the parallel street above. The palace was built between 1720 and 1765 to a design by Rosario Gagliardi, and since 2009 part of it has been devoted to accommodation. The idea of the house, designed by Cristina Summa, is that you sleep as a guest of the prince: salons with 18th-century frescoes, period furniture and balconies over the historic centre. The hotel has held the Michelin Key, the distinction the guide gives to accommodation, since 2024. It is open all year. The rooms There are ten, rooms and suites, on the upper floors of the palace. The suites are spacious and keep the frescoes; several have a balcony over the heart of Noto and one lets you see the coast on the horizon. The website does not publish the full list of amenities for each room, so if you need something specific, such as an extra bed, ask when you book. The house itself gives prices from €500 a night. The terrace and the osteria On the roof is the Terrazza Villadorata, the palace's private terrace, meant for the sunset aperitivo with views over Noto's Baroque. In the old cellars, with pointed arches and barrel vaults, the Osteria Villadorata operates, with its entrance on via Rocco Pirri 19. Its menu, of Sicilian and southern cooking with nods to the eastern Mediterranean, relies on Slow Food presidia. The menu published in 2025 had a four-step tasting menu at €65. It is booked separately, on +39 334 7933384. Getting there and parking By car, from Catania you take the motorway towards Siracusa and then the one that continues towards Gela. The hotel has private parking, which in the centre of Noto saves a lot of driving around: ask when you book how to get to it, because the old town has limited-traffic streets. On foot you are a few steps from the cathedral, the town hall and Corso Vittorio Emanuele. What is nearby The Baroque walk through Noto starts at the door: the cathedral of San Nicolò, the Corso and the visit to the Palazzo Nicolaci itself, with its ballroom. For breakfast or a granita, Caffè Sicilia is on the same Corso. The Vendicari reserve is a short drive south. - **Casa Talía**: Stone cottages facing the Baroque Casa Talía is an albergo diffuso, a hotel spread over several cottages, in Modica Alta, the upper part of the town. They are old homes restored with natural materials typical of Sicily, set at different levels of the land around a Mediterranean garden. The name comes from the Sicilian "talìa", which means "look": from the garden you have the old town opposite, with its domes and bell towers. The house defines itself by "slow living", life without hurry, and puts it into practice with few rooms and a lot of garden. The rooms and the houses Its website presents eight rooms, each with its own name: Talía, Meridiana, Scirocco, Ginestre, Zenzero, Sciara, Mediterraneo and Sirah. The first four are superior suites, some on two levels; all are doubles. The ceilings are of cane or wood, the stone is left exposed and every floor is different: old pitch stone, terracotta with Arabic designs, desert-coloured cement or antique tiles. All have air conditioning, a safe, television, internet access, a minibar and a separate entrance with key card, and each has its own terrace or balcony. Several look onto the cathedral. As well as the rooms there are "case", whole houses with a terrace or balcony and the same view, useful if you are travelling as a family or a group. Pool, breakfast and services The pool is small and surrounded by garden, with a view over the town and the Duomo di San Giorgio. There is free wifi throughout, a breakfast room with a book exchange, laundry and ironing service, babysitting on request and restaurant booking. They organise guided visits around the area, from Ragusa Ibla and Noto to Vendicari or Etna, rent cars, e-bikes and 50 cc scooters, and run transfers to Catania and Comiso airports. On request they prepare a picnic basket or a dinner with a cook. Check-in is from 14:00 to 19:00 and check-out from 9:00 to 11:00. They answer the phone from 9:00 to 13:00 and from 15:00 to 20:00. Getting there and parking By car from Catania, take the road towards Ragusa on the SS 115 as far as the first turning for Modica Centro. The house asks you to put "Via San Benedetto da Norcia" into the satnav: at the small roundabout take the street on the left down to the "Talia park here" sign, park and follow the signs on foot. Without a car, AST buses link Catania airport with Modica. What is nearby From the house you can walk down to Modica Bassa and Corso Umberto, where the Osteria dei Sapori Perduti is, and to the Bonajuto chocolate workshop. Ragusa Ibla is a short drive away. - **Eremo della Giubiliana**: A fortified baglio on the plateau Eremo della Giubiliana is in the countryside of the Hyblaean plateau, among carob trees and dry-stone walls, halfway between Ragusa and the coast at Marina di Ragusa. From its terraces you can see the Mediterranean and, on clear days, the house says you can make out Malta. It began in the Middle Ages as a hermitage and fortified baglio, the walled farmhouse of the Renna fief, and for centuries it protected the district from raids from the sea. The north tower, recently restored, keeps the stone shield of the Teutonic Order; later the Knights of St John passed through before settling in Malta. In the 18th century it was bought by the Nifosì family, landowners from Ragusa, who turned it into a residence. Today it is a five-star resort. In the northern part of the grounds a necropolis from the 5th to 3rd centuries BC comes to the surface, with rock-cut tombs and the little channels that diverted rainwater. Rooms, cottages and villa No two rooms are alike. The superior rooms keep their stone floors and original furniture, and look onto the garden; there are superior triples for families. The deluxe rooms have stone alcoves and a private terrace over the grounds. The junior suites and suites have rib vaults, wooden beams and period furniture, and some have terraces with views of the coast. Outside the main building there are white stone cottages with their own garden, a porch with barbecue and fireplace, and a villa with its own pool. The website does not publish the total number of rooms or the check-in time: ask when you book. Food, pool and spa Breakfast is a buffet with warm bread, home-made cakes, honey, preserves, eggs from their hens and cured meats. The restaurant cooks with what comes from the estate: plateau ricotta made with milk from their pastures, Sicilian black pork raised free-range in the Iblei woods and Sicilian hen, with wines from their cellar. There is a pool and a wellness area, Asphadelus, with massages and treatments. They run cooking classes, ricotta-making and tastings. Getting there and parking You need a car. From Ragusa take the SP 25 towards Marina di Ragusa; the Eremo is at kilometre 7.5. Parking is free, in front of the cottages. The house offers private transfers and has, nearby, a private airstrip for guests, with prior authorisation. What is nearby Ragusa Ibla is the nearest visit, and for a special dinner you have the Ristorante Duomo there. Modica and its chocolate are a short drive away. ## Dónde dormir if you're flying - **Seven Rooms Villadorata**, desde 500 € / night: Sleeping inside the Palazzo Nicolaci Seven Rooms Villadorata occupies a wing of the Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, the palace with balconies on brackets carved with grotesque figures on via Nicolaci, the street that is covered in flowers in May for the Infiorata. The hotel entrance is at via Cavour 53, the parallel street above. The palace was built between 1720 and 1765 to a design by Rosario Gagliardi, and since 2009 part of it has been devoted to accommodation. The idea of the house, designed by Cristina Summa, is that you sleep as a guest of the prince: salons with 18th-century frescoes, period furniture and balconies over the historic centre. The hotel has held the Michelin Key, the distinction the guide gives to accommodation, since 2024. It is open all year. The rooms There are ten, rooms and suites, on the upper floors of the palace. The suites are spacious and keep the frescoes; several have a balcony over the heart of Noto and one lets you see the coast on the horizon. The website does not publish the full list of amenities for each room, so if you need something specific, such as an extra bed, ask when you book. The house itself gives prices from €500 a night. The terrace and the osteria On the roof is the Terrazza Villadorata, the palace's private terrace, meant for the sunset aperitivo with views over Noto's Baroque. In the old cellars, with pointed arches and barrel vaults, the Osteria Villadorata operates, with its entrance on via Rocco Pirri 19. Its menu, of Sicilian and southern cooking with nods to the eastern Mediterranean, relies on Slow Food presidia. The menu published in 2025 had a four-step tasting menu at €65. It is booked separately, on +39 334 7933384. Getting there and parking By car, from Catania you take the motorway towards Siracusa and then the one that continues towards Gela. The hotel has private parking, which in the centre of Noto saves a lot of driving around: ask when you book how to get to it, because the old town has limited-traffic streets. On foot you are a few steps from the cathedral, the town hall and Corso Vittorio Emanuele. What is nearby The Baroque walk through Noto starts at the door: the cathedral of San Nicolò, the Corso and the visit to the Palazzo Nicolaci itself, with its ballroom. For breakfast or a granita, Caffè Sicilia is on the same Corso. The Vendicari reserve is a short drive south. - **Casa Talía**: Stone cottages facing the Baroque Casa Talía is an albergo diffuso, a hotel spread over several cottages, in Modica Alta, the upper part of the town. They are old homes restored with natural materials typical of Sicily, set at different levels of the land around a Mediterranean garden. The name comes from the Sicilian "talìa", which means "look": from the garden you have the old town opposite, with its domes and bell towers. The house defines itself by "slow living", life without hurry, and puts it into practice with few rooms and a lot of garden. The rooms and the houses Its website presents eight rooms, each with its own name: Talía, Meridiana, Scirocco, Ginestre, Zenzero, Sciara, Mediterraneo and Sirah. The first four are superior suites, some on two levels; all are doubles. The ceilings are of cane or wood, the stone is left exposed and every floor is different: old pitch stone, terracotta with Arabic designs, desert-coloured cement or antique tiles. All have air conditioning, a safe, television, internet access, a minibar and a separate entrance with key card, and each has its own terrace or balcony. Several look onto the cathedral. As well as the rooms there are "case", whole houses with a terrace or balcony and the same view, useful if you are travelling as a family or a group. Pool, breakfast and services The pool is small and surrounded by garden, with a view over the town and the Duomo di San Giorgio. There is free wifi throughout, a breakfast room with a book exchange, laundry and ironing service, babysitting on request and restaurant booking. They organise guided visits around the area, from Ragusa Ibla and Noto to Vendicari or Etna, rent cars, e-bikes and 50 cc scooters, and run transfers to Catania and Comiso airports. On request they prepare a picnic basket or a dinner with a cook. Check-in is from 14:00 to 19:00 and check-out from 9:00 to 11:00. They answer the phone from 9:00 to 13:00 and from 15:00 to 20:00. Getting there and parking By car from Catania, take the road towards Ragusa on the SS 115 as far as the first turning for Modica Centro. The house asks you to put "Via San Benedetto da Norcia" into the satnav: at the small roundabout take the street on the left down to the "Talia park here" sign, park and follow the signs on foot. Without a car, AST buses link Catania airport with Modica. What is nearby From the house you can walk down to Modica Bassa and Corso Umberto, where the Osteria dei Sapori Perduti is, and to the Bonajuto chocolate workshop. Ragusa Ibla is a short drive away. - **Eremo della Giubiliana**: A fortified baglio on the plateau Eremo della Giubiliana is in the countryside of the Hyblaean plateau, among carob trees and dry-stone walls, halfway between Ragusa and the coast at Marina di Ragusa. From its terraces you can see the Mediterranean and, on clear days, the house says you can make out Malta. It began in the Middle Ages as a hermitage and fortified baglio, the walled farmhouse of the Renna fief, and for centuries it protected the district from raids from the sea. The north tower, recently restored, keeps the stone shield of the Teutonic Order; later the Knights of St John passed through before settling in Malta. In the 18th century it was bought by the Nifosì family, landowners from Ragusa, who turned it into a residence. Today it is a five-star resort. In the northern part of the grounds a necropolis from the 5th to 3rd centuries BC comes to the surface, with rock-cut tombs and the little channels that diverted rainwater. Rooms, cottages and villa No two rooms are alike. The superior rooms keep their stone floors and original furniture, and look onto the garden; there are superior triples for families. The deluxe rooms have stone alcoves and a private terrace over the grounds. The junior suites and suites have rib vaults, wooden beams and period furniture, and some have terraces with views of the coast. Outside the main building there are white stone cottages with their own garden, a porch with barbecue and fireplace, and a villa with its own pool. The website does not publish the total number of rooms or the check-in time: ask when you book. Food, pool and spa Breakfast is a buffet with warm bread, home-made cakes, honey, preserves, eggs from their hens and cured meats. The restaurant cooks with what comes from the estate: plateau ricotta made with milk from their pastures, Sicilian black pork raised free-range in the Iblei woods and Sicilian hen, with wines from their cellar. There is a pool and a wellness area, Asphadelus, with massages and treatments. They run cooking classes, ricotta-making and tastings. Getting there and parking You need a car. From Ragusa take the SP 25 towards Marina di Ragusa; the Eremo is at kilometre 7.5. Parking is free, in front of the cottages. The house offers private transfers and has, nearby, a private airstrip for guests, with prior authorisation. What is nearby Ragusa Ibla is the nearest visit, and for a special dinner you have the Ristorante Duomo there. Modica and its chocolate are a short drive away.