Travel Guide Ispica

The town is located 30 km from Ragusa. Caves were occupied here during the time of the Sicanes. Port Ulysses served as a distress port for ships during the ancient times. A Byzantine wreck was found here. The Statella estate is rich in 18th century monuments characterised by their abundant decoration. The church of Santa Maria Maggiore is particularly noteworthy, sumptuously decorated and contains a series of 26 frescoes painted in thirteen years by Olivo Sozzi. Its square is bordered by a sublime semicircular gallery with arcades designed by the architect Sinatra on the model of Bernini's colonnade in St. Peter's in Rome. These arcades, once tombs for the common people (members of the nobility were buried in the church), were later used as workshops. Other churches, including that of the Annunziata, the mother church enriched with rococo stucco, and the monasteries of Santa Maria del Gesù and the Madonna del Carmelo, are worth a visit. The Palazzo Bruno-Belmonte, which houses the town hall, a Liberty-style work by Ernesto Basile, is more recent, dating from the beginning of the last century (1910 to be exact). It is one of the most beautiful Liberty style monuments in the whole of Sicily