If you are thinking to do an unusual tour to visit the places of the inspector Montalbano, this is the right place to start. Inspector Montalbano is a fictional character born by the pen of Sicilian writer Andrea Camilleri, who wrote a long series of novels about this character.

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Later, the Italian television used the subject of the novels to shoot and broadcast a successful TV series, namely the one of Inspector Montalbano. This is an investigator like Maigret inspector. Unlike this character, Montalbano’s fiction is set in the most interesting places of the Eastern Sicily. I guess you know the town of Vigata. Some scenes set in Vigata are in reality placed in Scicli, a charming baroque village in the Eastern Sicily.

However, the description of Vigata relates to the birth land of Montalbano’s author, Andrea Camilleri, namely Realmonte, in the province of Agrigento. Instead, the Tv movie has been shot between Ragusa, Modica, Scicli and Punta Secca. Ragusa and Modica are the places of some investigation cases followed by Montalbano, while in Scicli, you’ll find the seat of the police department of Montalbano . In Punta Secca, instead, you’ll see the Home of Montalbano. Since I have already talked about Ragusa and Modica, I want to talk about an unusual tour to really visit the Sicilian places of inspector Montalbano. The tour starts from Realmonte and arrives in Scicli and Punta Secca. If you follow my suggestions to do this unusual Inspector Montalbano tour, you’ll really have an unforgettable experience.

 Unusual first step of Inspector Montalbano Tour  – Realmonte

Try to do this unusual Inspector Montalbano tour,  while you are in Agrigento, in The Valley of The Temples. From here, move to Realmonte, the real city of Vigata.

This is a fabulous Sicilian small town with less than 5000 inhabitants. It is very famous because is the seat of untouched beaches, among them, you can also visit Scala dei Turchi. The latter is the final part of a shoreline starting from Capo Rossello bay (lido Rossello). That is a very picturesque bay overlooking the sea and one of the most secure Sicilian beaches with clear and shallow waters. Here, you can visit Costabianca (white coast) theatre, a unique and interesting structure in Sicily. The theatre is located in a street called Contrada Scavuzzo. The shape of the theatre is as the one of the Segesta temples, with Greek rows.

It lies at the feet of Capo Rossello bay and it is surrounded by a stunning arch which forms the same bay. The theatre hosts several shows in the summer, while it is closed in the other seasons. Always in Contrada Scavuzzo, you’ll see the salt cathedral ( see the image), namely a salt mine where it is extracted an excellent cooking salt. The mine is called the cathedral because it has been built a church inside it. In my view, this a very interesting monument to visit in Sicily during your tour to see the places of Inspector Montalbano. Inside the church, you’ll see stunning and touching sculpture of Jesus Christ and the saints. Many of these sculptures are made with salt. Just think that also the two fonts of the church are made with salt.

Second step of Inspector Montalbano tour: Scicli

If you ride the SS 115, Realmonte, the real city of Vigata,  is 154 km from Scicli, the fictional city of Vigata.  If you ride the SS 190, Realmonte is over 200 km from Scicli, instead. From SS115, you’ll take 2 hours and 48 minutes to reach the town of Scicli ( see the image). As I said, this is a pretty baroque village in the province of Ragusa. Here, you’ll see many baroque churches , such as in Modica and Noto, and the seat of the municipal palace , where many scenes of Inspector Monltalbano tv series have been shot. Scicli is the town that corresponds to the fictional city of Vigata. The municipal palace of Scicli is the headquarter of the police department of inspector Montalbano. As soon as climb the stairs of the municipal palace, you’ll see in front of you a big room with an elegant armchair, the same where the chief of inspector Montalbano sits while he gives him his orders! The external façade of the Palace is in liberty style. This is different from of the charming baroque style of Beneventano palace, that represents one of the external palaces of the fictional city of Vigata. In Scicli, the other external monuments that represent Vigata are the churches of San Bartolomeo and San Matteo.

However, since this is an unusual tour about the inspector Montalbano places, I also suggest that in Scicli, you visit the museum of the ancient Sicilian clothes. This interesting museum contains a stunning collection of ancient Sicilian dresses, hats and accessories ( see the images). I visited this museum a couple of years ago. Every year, the keepers of the museum add new and authentic ancient Sicilian clothes. Inside the museum, you’ll see clothes dating back the 1700 until to the early years of the 1900. You’ll also discover that, between the 1800 and 1900, the Sicilian wedding dresses were not white, but coloured! The ancient dresses are put on mannequins in order to better show their unmistakable style. The Museum of the ancient clothes in Scicli is opened all the year from the 10 to 13 a.m and from the 17 to 23.p.m. The ticket to visit the museum is three euros. If you are over 65 years old, you’ll pay two euros. This is also the ticket for children from 6 to 12 years old.

Continuing your unusual inspector Montalbano tour, you don’t miss to visit the former Convent of the Cross, where it was shot an episode of inspector Montalbano titled “the field of the potter”. Then, move to Sampieri, a sea village in the district of Scicli. Here, you can admire the Penna furnace ( see the image), namely the stunning ruins of a monument of industry archaeology. It was created to heat, burn and produce bricks and tiles. This is the so called “Mannara di Montalbano” used as a location for one of the episodes of the tv movie.

Third step of Inspector Montalbano tour Punta Secca

This is a very small beach with a house overlooking the sea. The house is very charming and with white walls. This is the home of inspector Montalbano ( see the image). In reality, this is a Sicilian bed and breakfast, where you can stay and eat a delicious Sicilian breakfast . Punta Secca is a sea village in the district of Santa Croce Camerina in the province of Ragusa. Here, you can see the famous beach that Montalbano views when he appears from the window of his house. This is the famous beach of Marinella. There is also the restaurant where inspector Montalbano eats during his investigations: Enzo a mare. Stop here, to taste the delicious food of Ragusa, during your tour.

After leaving Punta Secca, if you want, you can also go to Ragusa to visit the castle of Donnafugata ( see the image). This is another beautiful location of Inspector Montalbano fiction. This is a magnificent, noble palace built in 1800 and used to shoot several episodes of Inspector Montalbano tv movie . Many times, we have seen the inspector to go to this palace that is the bunker of a mafia boss, in the movie. This castle was also the location for another famous Italian movie, namely The Gattopardo by Luchino Visconti. You could also visit Tindari, Favignana, Modica, Ragusa Ibla. These also are the other locations of the Inspector Montalbano movie, but since these are larger destinations, you should visit them during another tour.

Montalbano tour with tour operators

For an Inspector Montalbano tour to Donnafugata Castle in Ragusa, Modica, Scicli and Punta Secca, namely the destinations I mentioned above, you can enjoy an Inspector Montalbano tour which lasts from two to five hours with pick up in your hotel. Usually, that is an affordable tour, shared or customized for you. To book the tour,  see  here.  Instead of you are interest in a customized trip to visit all of the places mentioned in this post, you can rent a car here. This way, you’ll reach easily Realmonte, the true city of Vigata and the salt cathedral salt and afterward, the other places I described above. Book now and let me know as soon as you returned to your home if you liked this Inspector Montalbano tour.

Photocredits

Montalbano – Valley of the Temples:  www.optimaitalia.com

The salt cathedral: www.comune.realmonte.ag.it

Scicli museum: http://agipapress.blogspot.it

Penna Furnace: Marco Garro Flickr

Montalbano house: http://www.bed-and-breakfast-sicilia.it

Donnafugata castle: Mario Cutroneo Flickr

Rosalba Mancuso

Rosalba Mancuso is a freelance journalist born in Sicily. Passionate about her loved island and with extensive writing experience, Rosalba worked as a contributor for the main Sicily’s newspapers and as a bilingual Italian – English writer. Thanks to her skills, she also founded four websites in English. On Sicilyonweb, Rosalba tells every corner of her beloved Sicily. Furthermore, she writes this blog thanks to your help. Rosalba, in fact, earns a small commission, with no cost for you, when you book your travel or buy products through the affiliate widgets or links you find in her posts.