Ms_Go, was there much of a floral fragrance throughout the display? Just curious.
Smart move to climb the tower for a 2-fer.
I am done. the blossomz

We made friends with a taxi driver in Siracusa and almost visited Noto.... your shots helped assuage my regret. I second the question about the aroma.

Neither of us remembers much of an aroma from the flowers--at least nothing strong. zebec, one of us will climb every tower possible, and the other (guess who) usually bravely goes up despite a fear of heights and a fear of falling on the way down. Fortunately, this tower, while a narrow spiral, was not that high up.

Noto--more than just the flower festival

We spent a half day in Noto, between seeing the flower festival, having lunch and just walking around admiring what is considered by many to be the classic Sicilian Baroque architecture.


Porta Reale o Ferdinandea


Look up and see the people--that's where we went or a view of the flower festival


Looking down the street toward Portal Reale from the tower of Chiesa di San Carlo al Corso


Chiesa di San Dominico


More steps


A quieter side street


Light coming in just the right spot in the Cathedral di San Nicolo


Another festive street


Last but not least, fennel and orange salad for lunch at Viva Il Bistrot (so good we've already tried to recreate it at home)

Siracusa

Originally, we were to spend the last night in Catania, since we were departing from there. Late in the going, we realized we could take public transportation directly from Siracusa to the Catania airport—and that it would be wasted motion to change cities for one night, with little time do anything of substance in Catania. Our Airbnb in Ortigia was fully booked and couldn’t be extended, so we moved to PhotoGuest B&B in Siracusa for our last night. This small five-room B&B is a quick walk from the bus depot and train station. It doubles as a display space for the proprietor’s photography—hence the name. Modern furnishings and nice hospitality.

This put us closer to the sites of Siracusa. We spent the better part of the afternoon at the archaeological park (Greek and Roman), with a side trip to Chiesa di Santa Lucia Extra Moenia, with Caravaggio’s martyrdom of Santa Lucia. On our final morning, we spent a couple of hours at the archaeological museum before catching a bus to the airport at 1:30.


Altar of Hieron is the largest known altar from antiquity


The Latomie of Syracuse is a group of limestone quarries later used for prisons - this is the Ear of Dionysos


Inside the quarries


Outside at the quarries


Steps in the Greek Theatre


The theater is currently covered in seating material for the annual festival - we considered going to see Fedra, but were a little short on time (and the night we would have gone ended up with rain)


Around the Greek theatre


The Roman amphitheater is one of the largest - was used for gladiator fights


Caravaggio's Martyrdom of Santa Lucia - the only Caravaggio in Sicily


One last round after a hot afternoon at the ruins


For all the people clustering around the top end of Ortigia, it seems very few take the time to visit this massive collection of artifacts. The displays date back to prehistory.


Aside from a couple of school groups, we had this museum almost to ourselves


More of the thousands of artifacts

Ortigia/Siracusa – food

We ate well on the trip overall, but especially at this last stop. I’ll conclude this report by sharing a few highlights. Beware if you are hungry (because I sure am after looking through our photos).

Trattoria la Pigna, Via della Conciliazione
Small, family-owned restaurant, a little out of the way toward the south end of the island. The wife is the chef and the husband handles the front of the restaurant. He brought a tray of fresh fish to the table for us to pick and then suggested how best to prepare it.


Appetizer sampler for two: feta, olives, fried anchovies, mackerel/carmelized onions, caponata and a few other things


Paccheri alla Siracusana (capers, olives, cherry tomatoes, fish)


Simple grilled dorado

Sicilia in Tavola, Via Cavour
Right in tourist central – popular but also very good. This was a strong recommendation from a friend who has been several times.


Sicilian ceviche


Busiate al pesto Trapanese (almonds, minced raw cherry tomatoes, basil and garlic)


Red tuna special, crusted in sesame

Davé Ortigia, Via della Giudecca
Very nice setting, just down the street from our apartment. All dishes we tried, including tuna, were very good. Only regret: some other party arriving before us claimed to be us and took our outdoor table.


Crispy anchovies with nero d'Avola reduction


One of the few desserts we had on this trip: Siracusa feminello lemon cheesecake, with hazelnut biscuit and fruit jam (called "I am not a cheesecake")

Ristorante Fuori Ortigia, Via Tripoli
This is in Siracusa, not too far from the train station. We stumbled on this when looking for a good restaurant near our B&B for the last night. It had good reviews across multiple platforms. When we arrived at 8, there was just one couple (unlike many restaurants in Ortigia, which were full at that point). Around 9 pm, the locals began streaming in. I posted the tuna photo at the top of this report, but I’ll repeat it here as it may just have been the best dish of the entire trip. Not pictured: caponata, spaghetti with shrimp and red prawns.


Tuna prepared Sicilian style – eggplant, capers, olives, balsamic

A few good lunch spots:

Profumi e Sapori (bar/café), Via Maestranza


Vegetarian piadina (with artichokes)

Fratelli Burgio, Piazza Cesare Battisti
Popular salumeria in the market


Smoked tuna and zucchini (yum!)

U’Sicilianu Ortigia, Via della Giudecca
Tavola calda

Departure

We departed Catania on a Lufthasa flight leaving about 5:30 pm and arriving Frankfurt at 8 pm. Our strategy is often to take later flights like this, spend the night at an airport hotel (Frankfurt, Munich or Zurich) and then take a morning flight to Chicago. That gives us a good part of the final day and avoids early morning departures.

Interbus has regular service from the Siracusa bus depot to the airport--taking just over an hour, with departures every half hour (at the time of year and time of day we were traveling). It is also possible to go by train, but our B&B proprietor strongly recommended the bus. Our bus was punctual, departing right at 1:30. We were sorry to be leaving, but now we can start planning a return visit! In the meantime, we have two weeks in Northern Italy in September.

A perfect final picture, ms_go. I gained 5 pounds just looking at all that food. I'm looking forward to reading your TR from Northern Italy.

I am looking forward to your TR from NOrthern Italy as well. We are planning a trip to central and northern Italy for May 2025. Where are you going in northern Italy?

Such an interesting, diverse trip.
And the food does look great.

You are returning to the Alta Badia if I remember correctly ?

Thanks TDudette, KarenWoo and Adelaidean. We will spend a week hiking in the Dolomites, this time in Colfosco in Alta Badia (Adelaidean your report helped us make that decision!). We've previously spent a week each in the Val Gardena (Selva) and Val di Fassa (Vigo). After that, four nights in Bologna with friends. We're flying into Venice and will also spend a night in Asolo prior to heading to the mountains. We spent a night there on our first trip to Italy together in 1991 and thought it would be fun to return. Final night will be in Rome to position for our flight home.

What a marvelous TR, ms_go-thank you. And what a marvelous and well planned trip. Your photos are amazing. Your trip brought back wonderful memories of my own trip to many of the places you visited. Modica was a favorite place to nest during that trip-and our stay at the magical Casa Talia (at Leely2’s wonderful suggestion) remains one of my favorite lodging experiences ever. (I did not visit Noto and would love to experience the flower festival.) Thanks for taking the time to craft your TR.

Wow, thanks for writing and posting this fabulous and helpful trip report, complete with marvelous pictures. Am just now planning a 3 -4 trip to Italy to include a couple weeks in Sicily. Now I am really psyched! Prepared for different weather of course….but what will be will be!

Thank you, studenttobe. Apologies, I missed your nice comment earlier. Fully agree on Modica!

And thank you, glover. Glad this was helpful, and good luck with the planning. So many choices!

This reminds me that I never wrote the wrap-up that I had intended. Will try to do that this week.

Loved your report and esp the last batch of food photos. So glad you had a marvelous trip!

We were also in Ravenna last May and were in awe of the mosaics. Now wondering if Monreale is a visit we need to make next May...We also plan to visit Cefalu.

I'm probably in the minority here, but I was not overwhelmed by the mosaic work in the Monreale cathedral. they were stunning, yes, but we far preferred the Palatine chapel and La Matorana in Palermo.....I think it's because the latter two spaces felt more intimate. the cathedral in Cefalu is also pretty amazing, though our favorite part of that visit was seeing the more modern stained glass windows!