Ragusa HOTELS

 Best base for any exploration of the area is RAGUSA , a busy and likeable provincial capital with an encouraging, friendly atmosphere. The destructive earthquake split the city in two: the old town of Ragusa Ibla, on a jut of land above its valley, was comprehensively flattened, and within a few years a new town emerged, on the higher ridge to the west. Ibla was stubbornly rebuilt around its medieval ruins, while its new rival developed along grander, planned lines. All the business and industry relocated in the prosperous upper town, where oil is the latest venture - derricks scattered around modern Ragusa's higher reaches.

You'll arrive here, in the upper town : all buses stop outside the train station , and a left turn takes you along the main road and over the exposed Ponte Nuovo, spanning a huge cleft in the ridge. All the interest in modern Ragusa is on the other side, the gridded Baroque town slipping off to right and left on either side of the steeply sloping Corso Italia. To the right, down the Corso on a wide terrace above Piazza San Giovanni, stands the Duomo , conceived on a grand, symmetrical scale. Finished in 1774, its tapered columns and fine doorways are a fairly sombre background to the vigorous small-town atmosphere around. Back towards the train station, underneath the Ponte Nuovo, there's an important Museo Archeologico (daily 9am-1.30pm & 4-7.30pm; L4000/e¬2.07) dealing mainly with finds from the archeological site of Kamarina (sixth century BC) on the coast to the southwest.

But it's RAGUSA IBLA , the original lower town , where you'll probably while away much of the day, its weather-beaten roofs straddling the outcrop of rock about twenty minutes' walk away. The main attraction, the church of San Giorgio - stridently placed at the top of Piazza Duomo - is one of the masterpieces of Sicilian Baroque, built by Rosario Gagliardi and finished in 1784. The glorious three-tiered facade, sets of triple columns climbing up the wedding cake exterior to a balconied belfry, is an imaginative work, though typically not much enhanced by venturing inside. As with Gagliardi's other important church in MEdica , all the beauty is in the immediacy of the powerful exterior.

The whole town - deathly quiet at lunchtime - is ripe for aimless wandering. Gagliardi gets another credit for the elegant rounded facade of San Giuseppe in Piazza Pola, a few steps below the duomo, while Corso XXV Aprile continues down past abandoned palazzi to the Giardino Ibleo (daily 8am-8pm) - gardens that mark the very edge of the spur on which the town is built. If you can't face the walk back to the upper town, bus #1 or #3 makes the trip, hourly, from Piazza Pola.

Sadly, there's nowhere to stay in Ragusa Ibla, and even up in the main part of town accommodation is limited to a very few fairly expensive hotels. The cheapest, San Giovanni , Via Traspontino 3 (tel 0932.621.013; L60,000-90,000/e¬30.99-46.48), is at the train station end of the lower Ponte dei Cappuccini, while the Montreal on Via San Giuseppe is far better equipped but considerably more expensive (tel & fax 0932.621.133; L120,000-150,000/e¬61.98-77.47). There's a good, basic restaurant in Via S. Anna 117 the Ristorante Orfeo , with large, full meals for around L30,000/e¬15.60 (closed Sun), while La Grotta is good for pizzas at Via Cartia, off Via Roma (closed Wed). The best deal in Ibla is to be had at U Saracinu , on Via del Convento (closed Wed), near the duomo, good Sicilian cooking with North African touches. Also in Ragusa Ibla, you can sit outside for nourishing meals at La Bettola in Largo Camarina (closed lunchtime & Mon). The CaffE Trieste , Corso Italia 76-78, is a decent cafe-bar with an enticing savoury snack and pastry selection.