ZTL Ragusa
Ragusa is two towns on two hills separated by a gorge. Ragusa Ibla, the lower and older one, was rebuilt in baroque after the 1693 earthquake on its original medieval street plan; Ragusa Superiore above it was built new on a grid. Ibla carries several lettered restricted zones, and they do not share a timetable: three of them are live around the clock all year, while two switch on only for weekend and holiday evenings in season. Assuming Ibla is a weekend-evening problem is the way to be fined on a Tuesday morning, so none are quoted here — but Ibla's streets are stepped and steep, and the car is not going to help you there.
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Limited Traffic Zones in Ragusa
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ZTL Ragusa
Zones O, D and E 24 h year-round · zones A and B seasonal, weekend & holiday evenings
Ragusa Ibla, the baroque lower old town, in lettered zones that do not share a timetable. Zone C is currently suspended. The circonvallazione around Ibla stays open at all times.
What is restricted
The Comune divides Ibla into lettered zones. Zones O, D and E run 24 hours a day, all year. Zones A and B are seasonal and switch on for Saturdays, Sundays and holidays in the evening. Zone C is currently suspended. The gates sit on viale Margherita, via Giardini and corso XXV Aprile for the seasonal pair, and on via Giusti, via XI Febbraio, via Orfanotrofio, piazza Pola and piazza Duomo for the permanent ones.
The seasonal dates and evening times are re-set by ordinance and have moved between spring and late summer in different years, so check the current one before relying on an evening. The circonvallazione around Ibla stays open at all times, which is how you reach the far side without crossing a gate.
Ibla is dense, steep and largely medieval in layout even though the buildings are baroque, and much of it is best treated as pedestrian regardless of the formal rules.
Getting between the two towns
The upper and lower towns are connected by a road that loops down the side of the gorge and by long flights of steps cut into the slope — several hundred of them. Most visitors park in the upper town or on the connecting road and walk down into Ibla, which is the pleasant direction.
Coming back up is less pleasant on a hot day. There is a local bus service between the two, which is worth knowing about before you commit to the descent.
The Val di Noto
Ragusa is one of eight towns in south-eastern Sicily rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake and inscribed together by UNESCO for their late-baroque architecture. Noto, Modica and Scicli are the other names to know, and they are all within a short drive of one another.
That is exactly what a car is for here, and each of them runs its own restrictions over its own centre. The pattern is consistent: park at the edge of each town and walk in. Modica is also where the chocolate is, made cold and grainy by a method that came from the Spanish and before them the Aztecs.
The television effect
This corner of Sicily is where the Montalbano detective series was filmed, and the towns are well used to visitors arriving with a list of locations. It has made the area considerably busier than it was, particularly Ibla and Scicli, and in high season the small centres and their parking feel it.
Out of season it is very quiet, the light is good, and the baroque fronts along Ibla's streets are best seen with nobody in the way.
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Zone shapes are derived from publicly available information, including accessibilitacentristorici.it and OpenStreetMap; base map © OpenStreetMap and © CARTO. Boundaries are simplified and hours are indicative — a guide, not an official source.