On Wednesday we got up bright and early, meeting at 9.15 (I swear it got earlier every day!) so that we could manage to visit Ragusa Iblia in the morning and still get to the castle of Donnafugata before 12.30. If we arrived any later the place would close and we would not be allowed in, which would have been a great shame.
Ragusa Iblia is the town that is seen in the aerial shots of the supposed town of Vigata at the start of each episode of Montalbano, and very lovely that view from the air is too. We will all be able to say “been there” as an episode starts now. It is a beautiful town with a splendid collection of churches once again. And once again we heard about the places destroyed by the earthquake of 1693 and subsequently rebuilt and possible improved, depending on how you feel about baroque architecture and decoration.
It was in Ragusa that we saw the power of charm and a little persuasion. In one of the main streets we came across the Circolo di Conversazione, a private club where men of a certain social standing could go to talk, read, play cards and billiards and so on. It was only sometime in the middle of the 20th century that ladies were allowed in. This club was used, as you might expect, for certain scenes in Commissario Montalbano, TV version. The problem was that the club did not allow tourist visits as a rule but we were not to be deprived.
Our delightful guide, Sabrina, suggested knocking on the side door and making a special request. If she did it, she told us, it would be to no avail but if Adalgisa had a go, it might just work. And so she did just that. We believe that she told them she was from the BBC, accompanying a group of students from the University of the Third Age – the old folk’s university!!! We forgave her though as we did get inside the building. 
A little later in the morning she worked the magic again. Our final church of the morning was up a huge flight of steps. One of our party has had major heart surgery and really couldn’t face the effort of climbing those steps. So, as there was a shorter flight leading to a closed door into the church, Adalgisa went and used the charm initiative again to get us in that way. Magic, of course. Now magic works in threes as a rule so we wondered what the third door would be. It was not, of course, until the next day that the third door opened ... into the pasta making “laboratorio” of our driver Giorgio. Amazing!
Back to Wednesday: we went on to the Castle of Donnafugata, more or less the basis for the country house of Di Lampedusa’s “Il Gattopardo”, although not the location used for the amazing film of the book. Even though we could not take photos inside, the pictures of the gardens give an idea of the grandeur of this place. 
One of our group tried to get lost in the maze where one naughty owner used to ask ladies to give him some kind of forfeit (most people can guess what it might consist of) in return for being shown out. 
And then there was the terrace of the castle, used in the Montalbano series as the place where the commissario would go to meet with the local mafiosi. Unfortunately, none of us was suitably dressed to play the part of mafia hoods but we have a good imagination. To round the morning off there was lunch: a series of taste explosions in a restaurant in the castle grounds, using local ingredients for everything. Quite delightful.
As if that were not enough we then went on to Punta Secca, the seaside bit of the invented town of Vigata in the TV detective series.
We oohed and aahed outside Commissario Montalbano’s house, which Adalgisa informed us was probably built illegally too close to the sea.
Let’s see them try to knock that down, as has happened to some such houses in Italy! I think we caused some amusement for the locals as we ran around the beach making a fuss and posing in the sea, trying to look as though we were swimming in, as the detective does at the start each week. Such fun!!!
And suddenly it was Thursday, last day and we went to visit Noto, yet another place destroyed by the 1693 earthquake but this time rebuilt a short distance away from the original town. So we listened to the lovely, enthusiastic Sabrina explaining things for the last time. The town was designed on geometric lines by the Spanish nobleman who was providing a lot of the money. It rather looked as though it had been cleaned up especially for our visit. We were very impressed. Phil did try to steal the show by having a reaction to mosquito bites, rather less than the last (and first) time this happened in Viareggio a few years ago, but still sufficient to have us running to chemists for consultation and possible remedies.
But then he was upstaged by Giorgio and the pasta. So we checked that he didn’t need hospital treatment and got on with eating good food. You have to get your priorities right, after all.
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