Exploring Southeast Sicily

Vendicari Nature Reserve

The Riserva Naturale di Vendicari is a coastal wetland stretching along six kilometres of shoreline between Noto and Pachino. It is one of the most important bird migration stopovers in the Mediterranean, and one of the least visited nature reserves on the island. That combination makes it remarkable.

Flamingos arrive in autumn and linger into spring, wading through the shallow salt pans that once supplied Noto's tuna fisheries. Herons, cormorants, and black-winged stilts are resident year-round. The reserve protects three distinct beach coves, each reached by a different trailhead: Calamosche to the north, Vendicari central with its ruined tuna factory (tonnara), and Cittadella to the south.

The tonnara is worth a slow visit. Built in the 18th century and abandoned in the mid-20th, it stands at the water's edge as a monument to Sicily's once-vast tuna industry. The stone arches frame the sea. Nearby, a Swabian watchtower marks where the coast was guarded against Saracen raids. The layers of history here are centuries deep.

The walk from the main entrance to the tonnara takes around twenty minutes through Mediterranean scrub, wild rosemary, and low-growing juniper. The landscape is flat and the trail is well maintained, making it comfortable in any season. Birdwatchers should bring binoculars for the salt pans, which sit between the path and the sea.

Marzamemi

Marzamemi is a fishing village so small that you can walk its entire perimeter in ten minutes. What earns it a place on every serious Sicilian itinerary is a single piazza: Piazza Regina Margherita, paved in stone and ringed by low buildings in ochre and terracotta, opening directly onto the harbour. At sunset, with the boats pulled up on the sand and the first aperitivo glasses catching the light, it is one of the most quietly beautiful squares in southern Italy.

The village was built around a tonnara, a tuna-processing plant that operated for centuries and shaped the local economy and architecture. The tonnara complex still anchors the eastern side of the square. Today, the tradition continues through Campisi, a family business bottling tuna, anchovies, and bottarga (cured tuna roe) by hand. Their shop on the piazza is the one place in Sicily where the packaging is as beautiful as the product.

Where to eat

Marzamemi rewards a slow approach. Start at Premiata Focacceria Mazzini for a slab of thick Sicilian focaccia filled with tomato and anchovy. For a proper sit-down meal, La Cialoma serves raw red prawns from Mazara del Vallo and pasta with sea urchin at tables overlooking the water. Taverna La Cialoma is the more casual sibling next door, excellent for a plate of grilled calamari and a glass of Grillo.

Before you leave, stop at Gelateria Don Peppinu on Via Marzamemi for what may be the best gelato you eat in Sicily. The pistachio is made from Bronte pistachios, the almond from Avola almonds, and the granita di mandorla on a summer afternoon is reason enough to drive the fifteen minutes from the villa. It is a small, unassuming place that locals queue for — always a reliable sign.

Modica

Modica is built on two deep ravines, the buildings climbing steeply on every side so that the city appears to pour down the hillsides like a Baroque avalanche. The scale is dramatic and disorienting — churches perched at improbable heights, palazzi emerging directly from rock faces, and staircases connecting levels of the town where streets could not be cut.

The city divides into Modica Alta (the upper town, older, more winding) and Modica Bassa (the lower town, where the two ravines meet). Both have exceptional Baroque churches. San Giorgio, crowning the upper town with a monumental staircase of 250 steps, is widely considered one of the finest Baroque churches in Sicily. San Pietro, in the lower town, lines its entrance with statues of the twelve apostles and faces a broad piazza that fills with locals in the evening.

The chocolate

Modica's signature is its chocolate, made using a cold-process method inherited from the Aztecs via Spain during the centuries of Aragonese rule. The cacao is ground with sugar at low temperature so the sugar crystals never fully dissolve, producing a grainy, intensely flavoured tablet unlike anything made elsewhere in Europe.

Antica Dolceria Bonajuto, operating since 1880, is the custodian of this tradition and the obvious first stop. The chilli chocolate and the vanilla are the classics. Across town, smaller producers offer variations with carob, citrus peel, and Modica salt. A full chocolate trail through the city takes about an hour and constitutes a serious afternoon.

Ragusa Ibla

If Noto is the Val di Noto's most elegant town, Ragusa Ibla is its most atmospheric. The old quarter sits on a hill separated from modern Ragusa by a deep valley, linked by a winding road and a pedestrian staircase of 340 steps. The isolation preserved it — Ibla feels complete in a way that few Sicilian towns do, its Baroque palazzi, churches, and gardens forming a single coherent composition.

The Duomo di San Giorgio commands the town from the top of the main piazza, its tiered facade rising like a theatrical set piece above a wide sloping staircase. Below, the Giardino Ibleo is a public garden at the very tip of the promontory, where the cliffs drop away to the valley and the views stretch to the distant Iblean plateau. At dusk, the garden fills with locals walking their dogs, children running laps around the fountain, and couples sitting on the stone benches that line the edge.

Ortigia and Syracuse

Ortigia is the island heart of ancient Syracuse, a city that was once the most powerful in the Greek world — larger than Athens, richer than Corinth, and home to Archimedes. The island is connected to the mainland by two short bridges and contains layer upon layer: Greek temple columns embedded in the walls of a Baroque cathedral, a freshwater spring (the Fonte Aretusa) that surfaces metres from the sea, medieval streets opening suddenly onto operatic piazzas.

The Duomo di Siracusa is the essential stop: a cathedral literally built into and around a 5th-century BC Greek temple to Athena. The Doric columns are still visible inside, incorporated into the nave walls. It is one of the most extraordinary architectural palimpsests in Europe. Outside, the piazza catches the evening light in a way that turns the honey limestone almost gold.

On the mainland side, the Parco Archeologico della Neapolis holds the Greek Theatre (still used for performances every summer), the Ear of Dionysius (an immense artificial cave with remarkable acoustics), and the Roman amphitheatre. Allow a full morning for the archaeological park alone.

The market

Ortigia's daily market fills the streets behind the Tempio di Apollo every morning except Sunday. It is loud, vivid, and completely authentic — fishmongers laying out swordfish steaks and red prawns on beds of ice, fruit sellers stacking blood oranges into pyramids, and spice traders measuring out wild oregano and sun-dried tomatoes by the handful. Even if you buy nothing, the sensory impact justifies the visit.

The Wineries of Contrada Buonivini

Villa Magnus sits in the heart of Contrada Buonivini, the historic wine-growing district south of Noto that has been producing wine for centuries. The name itself means "good wines" — and the rolling calcareous hills, the proximity of two seas, and the relentless Sicilian sun create conditions that draw serious winemakers from across Italy. Four acclaimed estates operate within minutes of the villa, making this one of the most concentrated pockets of fine wine in all of Sicily.

For guests who care about wine, there is no better base in the Val di Noto. You can walk a vineyard before breakfast, taste five wines before lunch, and be back at the pool by three. Several estates also offer cooking classes, long lunches among the vines, and sunset tastings that rank among the finest experiences on the island.

Planeta Buonivini

The Planeta family arrived in the Val di Noto in 1998, drawn by the potential of Contrada Buonivini for Nero d'Avola. Their estate here produces Santa Cecilia DOC Noto and the celebrated Passito di Noto from Moscato Bianco, both made in what they call the "Invisible Winery" — a striking underground facility designed to blend into the landscape. A structured tasting visit includes the vineyard, the cellar, five territorial wines, three estate olive oils, and local accompaniments. The Grand Tour option adds a full lunch among the vines.

Marabino

Founded in 2002 by Pierpaolo Messina, Marabino is a biodynamic estate of twenty-nine hectares in Contrada Buonivini producing natural wines that have earned international recognition. The grapes are hand-harvested, fermented spontaneously with native yeasts, and made without any oenological additives. The Nero d'Avola and Moscato di Noto are both exceptional. For visitors who appreciate natural and biodynamic winemaking, Marabino is a revelation — one hundred thousand bottles a year, exported worldwide, produced with extraordinary care just minutes from the villa.

Tenuta La Favola

A smaller, family-run estate of nineteen hectares with roots stretching back to 1852, Tenuta La Favola holds both Italian and Swiss organic certifications. They cultivate Nero d'Avola, Frappato, Syrah, and Grillo amid olive groves and traditional dry-stone walls. The tasting experience here is intimate and personal — you are likely to be hosted by the family who makes the wine, and the conversation is as much about the land as the glass. At around fifty euros per person, it offers some of the best value in the region.

Cozzo del Parroco

The closest winery to the villa, Cozzo del Parroco is a boutique estate producing small-batch wines from indigenous grape varieties. The short drive — or an ambitious walk through olive groves — makes this the most effortless wine experience from Villa Magnus. An ideal first stop for guests arriving in the afternoon who want to ease into the Sicilian pace with a glass of something local before the sun sets.

Putting It Together

A week at Villa Magnus is enough to see all of this without hurrying. Mornings at the beaches, afternoons in the Baroque towns, and evenings on the terrace watching the Ionian catch the last light. The geography works in your favour: Marzamemi is fifteen minutes south, Vendicari twenty. Noto is twenty-five minutes northwest. The deeper Val di Noto destinations — Modica, Ragusa Ibla, Ortigia — make comfortable half-day trips of forty to fifty minutes each.

The villa sits at the centre of this constellation — close enough to reach everything, far enough to feel like you have left the world behind. And on the days you do not feel like driving at all, the wineries of Contrada Buonivini are a five-minute stroll through the olive groves.