In January 1693 an earthquake measuring 7.4 destroyed the southeastern corner of Sicily in approximately two minutes. Sixty thousand people died. The towns that had stood for centuries were reduced to rubble. What replaced them — rebuilt over the following decades in the exuberant late baroque style of the time — is one of the most extraordinary concentrations of architecture anywhere in Europe.

Eight towns. All rebuilt simultaneously. All working in the same golden limestone. All competing, with the particular intensity of people who have just lost everything, to build something more magnificent than what came before. Noto, Ragusa, Modica, Scicli, Caltagirone — each one a UNESCO World Heritage Site, each one different in character, each one worth a day of your time.

Ragusa Ibla is the jewel — a medieval hill town that was rebuilt over its own ruins and descends in terraces to a valley of almond and carob trees. Modica is famous for its baroque churches and its chocolate, made without cocoa butter to an Aztec recipe brought by the Spanish. Noto has the most theatrical main street in Sicily. Come for the architecture. Stay for the food. Leave understanding why this corner of the island produces writers, chefs, and directors in numbers that make no demographic sense.