SICILY BY CAR Car Rental at Catania Airport

At Catania Airport, Sicily by Car Autonoleggio has its office outside the terminals, within a short walking distance of the parking areas. The Sicily by Car Autonoleggio office is open from 7.30 am to midnight every day and can be contacted by phone on +39 095 349 900.

If you are travelling in high season it is well worth comparing car rental options with respect to price and availability.

Modica lies some 121 km to the southwest of Catania, an hour and half's drive via the E45 motorway with a rental car from Sicily by Car Autonoleggio.

In the old center stands the Duomo of San Giorgo, an imposing Baroque church sitting on one of the highest points of town. Reached via a long staircase, the Cathedral of San Giorgo as it is today is largely what was rebuilt in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, after three earthquakes had struck Modica in 1542, 1613 and 1693. With five aisles and 22 columns with Corinthian capitals supporting the roof, the Cathedral of San Giorgo is one of the most impressive in Sicily, and houses many artworks and treasures, including paintings by Girolamo Alibrandi (1470 - 1524), who painted "The Events of the Gospel and the Life of St George" in 1513. He is often referred to as the Raphael of Messina, and the Regional Museum of Messina displays some of his other works.

Modica's historic center has UNESCO World Heritage Site status, and is a fine example of Sicily's late Baroque style, so different from the rest of Italy's. But Modica was already a human settlement in the Bronze Age, and local archaeological finds are evidence for this early founding of the town. Mostly famous for its chocolate production today, Modica has Spanish traders to thank for this "windfall" from the New World, then freshly discovered. What is unusual for Modica's chocolate is that it only contains the cocoa, butter and sugar, no other additives.

What is perhaps the oldest chocolate factory in town, the Antica Dolceria Bonajuto at Corso Umberto 1 in Modica offers guided tours of their factory (www.bonajuto.it/en/antica-dolceria-bonajuto/). The factory looks back on 150 years of chocolate production in Modica. Next door to it is a museum dedicated to chocolate production, which hosts an annual festival of chocolate in autumn (https://museocioccolatomodica.business.site/). Corso Umberto is, incidentally, the main shopping street of Modica, filled with interesting little outlets where one can buy artisan foods or arts and crafts, antiques and souvenirs.