The last two days have been long and musical days: Friday we had a free morning in Ortigia so we went to the market and did a bit more wandering, and in the afternoon were off by bus to Avola (about 30 km away) for a performance of Acteon by the Early Opera Company. Acteon is based on a story by Ovid from the Metamorphoses where an unfortunate young hunter sees the goddess Diana and her attendants bathing in a glade and is turned into a stag an torn apart by his own hounds. Cheery! Actually I liked the music (by Charpentier), and it’s short.

Back in Ortigia we had a free night to find dinner before another concert in Chiesa Santa Lucia alla Badia of Alessandro Scarlatti’s Missa Defunctorum. Very atmospheric sitting in a baroque church in front of a Caravaggio painting listening to amazing music. And while we’ve enjoyed the trip it was nice to escape “group food” and have dinner in a restaurant on our own. The perils of feeding large groups is that the food is often not what you would choose.

Then yesterday we were on the bus to Ragusa Ibla – another town in the Val di Noto damaged and rebuilt after the earthquake of 1693. Probably less interesting that Noto and Modica but nonetheless pleasant. We had a group lunch then back to Modica for a performance of Acis and Galatea by Handel – unfortunately Ragusa’s opera house was under renovation.

Shattered by the end of the day. Today we have most of the day free and no bussing involved to get to a venue!

d