Continuing my trip in Calabria and Sicilia...
That night we circled back to Noto, but this time we didn't stay in the center. We stayed at an old farm in the countryside that takes guests. This industry is called “agrotourism” in Italy and is very popular. The place we were staying at, B&B Anticomar, was really cool. Our room had vaulted ceilings with exposed beams and was all wood (very uncommon in Italy where stone is cheaper than lumber). All the furniture seemed to be antique and was all weird and different. In the morning we pigged out on all sorts of home-made breakfast food served by the owner's wife. The owner came around and chatted with us, gave us some nice places to check out in the area. But we never went because I wanted to go to Modica... the city of Chocolate!
(Its like the map is dipped in chocolate!)
Modica is a city famous for chocolate. As in regular chocolate, chocolate gelato, chocolate granita, and who knows what. And like any small city famous for something, they are proud of it. At the Sicilian gelateria I frequent in Rome, they have “Ciocolato di Modica” as a standard flavor. I was really excited for this place. In the end it wasn't the chocolate pig-out I imagined, but the city was way prettier than I expected.
Like many ancient Italian cities, there is the upper/old town and the lower/new town where the old town overflowed past its walls and down the hill. Where we live in Monterotundo, the two are rather separate; we drive to go to the old town. Here in Modica you can walk between them and there are buildings along the incline of the hill that once protected the old center. All the architecture is beautiful. The new town had mostly baroque facades.
We covered the lower, then the upper city, stopping up top for lunch. We found this cool place where I had a tasty black rice dish. Back in the lower city I had a chocolate gelato filled brioche. Imagine a fancy Italian ice cream sandwich. Daniele was having a terrible time because there were on and off showers and Italians hate being out in the rain. Personally I found it refreshing compared to the heat we had been suffering. I couldn't bring back any chocolate because there were still some days left of our trip and the car gets too hot.I found this considerably more upsetting than getting caught in a little rain.
(City of Modica)
(Chiesa San Salvatore of Modica)
The rest of the pictures from Modica are in my Calabria and Sicilia album: https://picasaweb.google.com/111221349198606775660/20110609CalabriaSicilia#
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