Modica.

Modica sits in a limestone gorge in southeastern Sicily, its churches and palaces stacked on terraces that climb the rock face. The town divides into two layers: Modica Alta, the older upper quarter reached by steep staircases, and Modica Bassa, the lower town built along the former riverbed. The Duomo di San Giorgio, with its curved baroque facade, stands among the key monuments of the Val di Noto, the area rebuilt in the Sicilian Baroque style after the 1693 earthquake.

Modica's chocolate follows an old method brought from Spain: worked cold, so the sugar stays grainy and the cocoa butter is never melted in. Small workshops in town still make it this way, flavored with cinnamon, vanilla, or chili pepper. Beyond the town, dry-stone walls mark out groves of carob and almond trees, and vineyards on the surrounding hills grow grapes suited to the island's volcanic and limestone soils.