When I decided to leave to live a new experience in Sicily I was not yet clear what the destination should have been. I am a lover of novels and Andrea Camilleri was certainly one of the authors that I read avidly. I took information about the most important places taken from the writings of the writer from Scicli and in the end I decided: I will visit the places of Montalbano, precisely Punta Secca in the province of Ragusa.
Punta Secca – a bit of notions
Punta Secca (Punta Sicca in Sicilian) is a small fishing village, a hamlet of Santa Croce Camerina in the province of Ragusa, in Sicily. The locals call it “a sicca” (the shoal) probably due to the presence of a small formation of rocks in front of the eastern beach, a “shoal”. The village, together with the nearby Punta Braccetto, already existed in remote times and was occupied by Byzantines, Arabs and Normans. At the time of the Arabs it was called ʿAyn al-Qasab, but over the centuries it acquired several other names including: “Raʾs Karam”, “Raʾs Karama”, “Capo Scaramia” and, recently, “Capo Scalambri” (name still visible today in some geographical and “nautical” maps) from which the Scalambri tower, a coastal defensive tower built in the 16th century, takes its name.
The Punta Secca lighthouse
The Punta Secca lighthouse, commissioned by the Bourbon government and designed in 1857 by Eng. Nicolò Diliberto D’Anna, was built in 1858-59 and is 35 m high. Consisting of the Torre del Faro, it also annexed a single-storey building of the Navy. Visible for 206 ° (between 318 ° and 112 °) in the sea area between Gela and Cava d’Aliga. The fixed optic lighthouse is cataloged with the number 2942.
How to reach Punta Secca
In reality reaching the locality of Punta Secca is not very easy very much in fact it depends on the city from which we come. In my experience I traveled the stretch from Catania to Punta Secca (about 120km) with my private car making a short stretch of the Catania – Syracuse motorway and taking the Lentini / Carlentini exit. After this I traveled about 100km on the Ragusana state road (SS514) up to Santa Croce di Camerina. Actually there is an airport not far from the place – Comiso International Airport – but there are not many routes that are made to and from that place.
Mare Indaco Bed & Breakfast
Choosing the structure is one of the fundamental points in my travels so I always try to combine territoriality with comfort. My choice fell on the family-run Mare Indaco Bed & Breakfast where the managers welcomed us with infinite cordiality from the first moment we arrived at the facility. On the Via di Torre di Mezzo this Bed & Breakfast is recently redone but still clean and tidy – with a style that recalls the maritime wandering. Honorable mention for the spectacular breakfast that welcomed us every morning made of homemade jams, freshly baked bread and first fruits of the highest quality. Definitely recommended as a place from which to explore not only the places of Montalbano but also the delightful Marina di Ragusa, Scicli and Modica.
