Off to the Castello!

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Today we ventured off to the Donnafugata Castle which is located about 15 minutes from the Parco Cavalongo.
In the mid-19th-century, the Baron of Donnafugata built the Neo-Gothic castle onto the 17th-century extant core. A half-century later, the southern facade was broken through to insert a replica of the Venetian Gothic arcade of the Palace of Popes at Viterbo. A Neoclassical temple was added in the garden. This fascinating amalgam of styles is further confused by the lush, gilded, trompe-l’oeil Baroque interior.
The four of us wandered around the castle and grounds for quite some time enjoying the warm sunshine and fresh smells of the country air. The grounds definitely need some TLC but it looks like they’re working on it. Ron & Dan decided to enter the stone maze in the garden, only to find out an hour later that the maze comes to a dead end. They had to walk all the way through again to get out. There was another maze but they decided to leave that one alone. After the Donnafugata Castello, we decided to head back to the town of Modica and check out their famous dark chocolates. The town is known for its dark chocolates and chocolate liqueurs of all types of flavours. We bought some spicy chocolate and some regular chocolate for the kids. Our tummies were grumbling so we started looking for a place to eat. Funny, most of the cafes and restaurants were closed, which seemed so strange to us, so we asked one of the shop keepers for a recommendation. She pointed us down a little street to a small place called Osteria del Rustacana. It was a fabulous little place that was full of locals and a large family from Israel. The people from Israel were staying in Ragusa for 2 weeks and really enjoy Sicilian lifestyle. Apparently they come to Sicily quite often and gave us some recommendations of place to visit while we we’re here.
After we left Modica, we went to the local market and picked up some dinner to eat later in the villa. We are starting to get tired of eating out all the time, so a good home cooked meal was in order for this evening. Once back at the villa, we checked out the pool for the first time and relaxed. We had a great meal later on with some great local wine while Ron & Dan smoked their Nicaraguan cigars on the balcony. Life is good!

Wine Count is 20.

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Photos

Entrance to Castle
We couldn't photograph anything inside.

Stone Maze
Part of the maze Ron & Dan did.