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Caltagirone
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CALTAGIRONE
, an hour's ride southeast from Piazza Armerina, is one of the least known of Sicily's inland towns, with a fine central body of monumental buildings that dates from the rebuilding after the 1693 earthquake. As the town is a noted centre of ceramics, the effect is lightened by tiled decoration found all over Caltagirone, most effectively as flowers and emblems flanking both sides of a bridge (the Ponte San Francesco) on the way into the centre. The grandest statement, though, is made by the 142 steps of
La Scala
, which cut right up one of Caltagirone's hills to a church at the top, the risers in between each step covered with a ceramic pattern, no two the same.
Accommodation
in the centre is rather limited, but
La Scala 2
(tel 0933.51.552, fax 0933.57.781; L60,000-90,000/a?¬30.99-46.48) has rooms to rent right in the main square at Piazza Umberto I, no. 1, and the comfortable hotel
Monteverde
(tel 0933.53.682, fax 0933.53.533; L90,000-120,000/a?¬46.48-61.98), just south of the town at Via Industrie 11, also has a good
restaurant
. In town, the
Scala
, right by the bottom of the eponymous steps, is not cheap but it does some good dishes and the location is unbeatable, with a mountain stream splashing through (closed Wed). Other useful information
for tourists (each section contains more specific sub-sections): |
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Italy,
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