Country Italy Province / Metropolitan city Ragusa (RG) Time zone CET (UTC+1) Local time Thursday 12:10 PM | Region Sicily Elevation 170 m (560 ft) Province Province of Ragusa | |
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Frazioni Santa Maria del Focallo Weather 14°C, Wind E at 35 km/h, 60% Humidity Points of interest Saint Maria Maggiore, Palazzo Bruno di Belmonte, Loggiato del Sinatra | ||
Ispica (Sicilian: Spaccafurnu, Latin: Hyspicae Fundus) is a city and comune in the south of Sicily, Italy. It is 30 kilometres (19 mi) from Ragusa, 50 kilometres (31 mi) from Syracuse, and 90 kilometres (56 mi) away from La Valletta, on the coast of Malta. The first mention in a document of Ispica occurred in 1093, in a list of churches and ecclesiastic departments for administrative purposes, but the territory has been colonized since the Bronze Age.
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Map of 97014 Ispica Province of Ragusa, Italy
The city is located on a hill. The main economical activity consists of farming and organic products, especially carrot, zucchini, tomatoes, olives, vineyards.Ispica is the largest producer of organic carrot of southern Italy with about 18,000 tons of annual production. There is 10 kilometres (6 mi) of coastline, most of which is sand and dunes, and an island (Porri island) at 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the coast.
The town also hosts examples of Sicilian Baroque architecture such as the Vincenzo Sinatra's Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, the Annunziata Church, the Carmine monastery, and the St. Barthelemy cathedral.
Ispica was destroyed by an earthquake in 1693 and rebuilt on its present site.
Cava Ispica
The Cava Ispica (Cave of Ispica) consists of a series of housing units carved in rocky formations. Built prior to the Greek colonization, these houses were used until the end of the nineteenth century. This cave, the most important in Eastern Sicily, is 13 kilometres (8 mi) long and is divided among two other comunes, Modica and Rosolini.