South east Sicily: the landscape

The landscape of this part of Sicily is strongly marked by its stone of hard and soft limestone; In valleys and plateaux it is used to build walls, patios, cisterns, farmyards, balconies, churches and palaces.

The stone in dry-stone walls forms an age-old long line in the fields "vignali" or "chiuse"; it is decorated with friezes and blazons in mansion-houses and used to build local farms "masserie". Stone and trees, above all the evergreen carob trees, the olive- trees and the vines contribute to mark the characteristic landscape.

The Hyblaean landscape proposes a continuous affinity of light and colour. Rocks covered with dwarf palm trees and rows of agaves watch over broad sandy shores; History is rooted in the residual traces of coastal villages in spite of the recent wounds holiday crowds have inflicted. The coast ranges from Porto Ulisse to Kamarina, from Pozzallo to Marina di Ragusa and Scoglitti.

But the peculiarity of the landscape and culture is not only made up of seaside and country. Town centres show the architectural and structural features of this area too; an area which was planned again after the "terrible earthquake" of 1693 and left a wonderful heritage of baroque art.