Inspector Montalbano's itinerary is an itinerary that develops through the south east of Sicily.
Introduction
This itinerary refers to the locations of the television series of Inspector Montalbano and not the novels of Camilleri which are set in the Agrigento area. The TV series has chosen places between the province of Ragusa and Syracuse for the beauty of the landscapes that made the series and the places famous.
Since the series is quite long, there are many places, therefore it will not be possible to suggest a real itinerary unless you consider a visit based on your favorite locations.
The itinerary can be done either by traveling to individual locations by public transport, but it is preferable to use the car in order to reach each place more easily. The number of stages and the quantity suggest an itinerary by location.
When to go
The itinerary can be followed in every season, however the height of summer is not recommended for several reasons, both because of the high temperatures and because of the tourist crowding of the various locations. Out of season, in addition to having acceptable temperatures, you can easily find parking and access the various stages without too much difficulty.
How to get
 | To learn more, see: How to get to Sicily. |
Preparations
To prepare for the itinerary, it is obviously advisable to review the episodes of the Inspector Montalbano.
Stages
Ragusa: full screen map.Ragusa and Ragusa Ibla
| To learn more, see: Ragusa. |
The old bridge
- 1 Old bridge of Ragusa, Via Traspontino, 1 Ragusa. A scene from the Terracotta Dog. While in the Snack thief one of the buildings overlooking the bridge is the background of the entrance to the condominium where the murder of the accountant Lapecora took place.
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Piazza S. Giovanni
- 2 Piazza San Giovanni, Piazza San Giovanni, Ragusa. Here a scene of de The potter's field.
Church of S. Maria delle Scale
- 3 The glimpse of the church of Santa Maria delle Scale and staircase, Corso Mazzini, Ragusa. In this beautiful glimpse that leads to Ragusa Ibla, one of the scenes of the assaults on motorcycles against elderly people in the episode is set The cat and the goldfinch. The staircase next to it with its suggestive views of Ragusa Ibla was often used as a set, in one of them Montalbano climbed the stairs in the company of his Swedish friend Ingrid.
- 4 Ragusa Ibla parking. This widening appears, again in the episode The three card game, as the place where the corpse of the entrepreneur Girolamo Cascio was found.
- 5 House of Ciccio Monaco, via Don Minzoni 77, Ragusa Ibla. The accountant of the businessman killed that in the episode The three card game will help the inspector find out the truth about that strange death. As you can see, the entrance is very anonymous also because in the scene in question it is framed for a few seconds.
- 6 House of Girolamo Cascio, via Don Minzoni 29, Ragusa Ibla. At the beginning of the episode The three card game Girolamo Cascio is driven by a stranger who will kill him. Also in this case the location will be rather anonymous as it is framed for a short time.
Piazza Duomo
- 7 Piazza Duomo, Piazza Duomo, Ragusa Ibla. This square is one of the most recurring locations. In the upper part you can see the steps of the Cathedral or more properly Church of San Giorgio, which in the television series is the church of the imaginary town of Vigata. In the episode The arancini of Montalbano the Commissioner goes to a bar in the square and orders Pasquale, son of the waitress Adelina, a coffee granita. Montalbano in that case does not want to enjoy the granita but to find an excuse to question the young man.
- 8 via conte Cabrera. This road has been used frequently, also due to the presence of several prestigious buildings. At number 15, for example, we find the door of Clementina Vasile Cozzo an elderly lady in a wheelchair whom Montalbano will visit several times. Specifically in the episode The Snack Thief the lady communicates a series of information on the visits to Lapecora's studio located in front of her balcony.
- At number 16 instead we find the home of the fugitive Tarantino and his seductive wife Cloris, protagonists of the episode The three card game. We have already talked about Cloris Tarantino in Piazza Duomo, because in one scene he was walking in front of Montalbano and Augello.
Circle of conversation
- 9 Circle of conversation, Via Alloro, 5, Ragusa. This location was used for several episodes, often it was the place where Dr. Pasquano spent his free time, but it was also used as a glimpse from which to show the square with the background of the cathedral. Neither The smell of the night instead it was used as a study by the accountant Emanuele Gargano, who you will remember, had cheated the citizens of Vigata by fleeing with the savings of others.
But there is also a short scene in it The three card game, where Montalbano and Mimì Augello see the seductive Cloris Tarantino pass, with whom Augello had a brief "fling".
Church of San Giuseppe with the town hall next to it
- 10 Police Station (Town Hall of Ragusa), Piazza Pola, Ragusa. This location is not to be considered habitual because the police station is located in Scicli, due to the restoration work that lasted over time some episodes were filmed here. In the first scene of the episode The turning point when Catarella announces to Montalbano, with some consternation, the discovery of offensive writings against the police following the events of the Diaz school in Genoa during the 2001 G8. It is on that occasion that for the first time a distraught Montalbano will think of resign from the police.
- The main road that leads uphill to the Duomo was also used in the episode A level playing field where Augello and his wife Beba stroll down the street with their baby meeting a dirty and tired Catarella who pushes a scooter.
- 11 Don Calogero restaurant, Corso XXV Aprile, 70 Ragusa Ibla. This corner of Ragusa Ibla was Don Calogero's restaurant where Montalbano always came to eat. A level playing field announces that he wants to close the place to retire. It will be from that moment that the location will be moved, and the commissioner will always taste the dishes by the sea.
- 12 La Rocca Palace, via Capitano Bocchieri 33. This building has a beautiful baroque portal which in the fiction becomes the entrance to the lawyer Valentino Curò's office in the episode The arancini of Montalbano. Here Montalbano has a funny conversation with the building's porter who pretends not to see that the inspector's car is being picked up by the traffic police, even though he has recommended that he supervise it. But in that brief bickering with the goalkeeper he will discover further elements for his investigations ...
Hyblean garden
- 13 Iblei Gardens, P.zza G. B. Odierna, Ragusa. The Iblei Gardens were used as a location for a scene from the episode The paper moon. Right near the entrance, in the main street, was the sanatorium where Montalbano meets Orazio, an old burglar contacted to get advice on the key model for a safe deposit box.
- 14 Largo Camerina, Largo Camerina. This square will not be easy to identify because it was used just once in a fun night scene when Montalbano was on the hunt for information and stealthily opened a parked car to check what could be of interest to you and discovered documents. But his presence is noticed by an elderly gentleman who thinks he has spotted a thief. From the balcony of the house of the Baroque building on the right he takes up a shotgun and fires a shot, forcing Montalbano to flee.
Post Office Building
- 15 Post Office Building, Giacomo Matteotti Square. The building appears in the episode The shape of water, while the journalist Nicolò Zito tells the life and political events of the recently deceased engineer Luparello. A corner of the same building is also visible in it The smell of the night when the Commissioner waits for Michela Manganaro outside the house.
Modica
| To learn more, see: Modica. |
- 16 Tommaso Campailla High School, Corso Umberto I, 178. In this building during the episode The Sand track the interiors were used for the offices of Judge Scondamiglio. While in the episode Artist's touch the school will host the class of Professor Giacomo La Russa, brother of Alberto, a man found dead from a probable suicide.
- 17 Palace of culture, Corso Umberto I, 149. Here the Commissioner will arrest in the episode The sand track Francesco Bellavia exponent of the Cuffaro mafia family.
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Cathedral of San Giorgio
- 18 Cathedral of San Giorgio. The Commissioner finds himself passing this church several times. Usually he stops near the staircase, waits for Livia who arrives by bus. In the episode The August heat Montalbano arrives by car but this time he does not wait for his beloved but goes to the office of Mr. Callàra (next to the church), a real estate agent whom he will ask for help with an investigation.
- The church overlooks a large hanging garden that descends from the church to a lower level. Doctor Pasquano's house was set in a part of that garden.
Scicli
| To learn more, see: Scicli. |
- 19 Police Station (city Hall), Via Francesco Mormina Penna, 2 (Scicli). The Municipality building is easily recognizable, it is the Vigata police station which appears in almost all of Montalbano's episodes.
- 20 Office of the commissioner (Iacono Palace), piazza Italia 8. If compared to the entrance door of the building you observe the background of the Church of San Bartolomeo you recognize the typical shot of the Montelusa police station, where Montalbano often came out of the commissioner's office rather enraged.
- 21 Church of San Bartolomeo. The glimpse between the church and the street was probably one of the first shots of the episode The cat and the goldfinch, location where the first assault of the man with the scooter takes place: the fake attacker fired a blank shot at an elderly woman. In Ragusa at the steps of Santa Maria delle Scale we have already seen a location that concerned the same episode.
- In the episode A level playing field instead, the same church was used for the funeral of Angelo Buonpensiero, husband of Mariuccia Cùffaro, from which an alleged mafia war between the Sinagra and the Cùffaro families will arise.
- 22 Church of San Michele. The church appears together with the Ancient Cartia pharmacy placed right next to it, in the episode The smell of the night when the Commissioner goes to the pharmacy to buy a bandage to pretend an incident, which will serve to justify the delay with which he will go to the commissioner. The church is then visible there The blade of light and in other episodes as a background to the shots.
Other places in the Ragusa area
- 23 Trabacche cave. There Trabacche cave was used ne The terracotta dog, as a place where a mafia arsenal was found. Montalbano was able to discover that place thanks to the statements of the boss Tanu 'u Greco shortly before his death. In addition to the arsenal, however, he also discovered the bodies of a man and a woman (Lisetta and Mario) who died due to a hitman sent by the girl's father and buried together with a Terracotta dog. This place has also been used in other episodes, always as a hidden and little frequented environment.
- 24 Donnafugata Castle. Typically the location is associated with the residence of the Mafia Boss Balduccio Sinagra and appears for the first time in the episode The trip to Tindari when the commissioner goes to talk to the boss who will direct him towards the capture of his nephew Iapichino, who was later found dead. Inside the villa you can visit the labyrinth where the finding of the Griffos spouses is set, again in the episode The trip to Tindari, involved in a Mafia affair and then killed.
- 25 Montalbano house, Corso Aldo Moro, 44 Punta Secca. This is one of the most famous places in the series as it is the house that appears most often in the filming. If you go down to the sea you can see the terrace where Montalbano has breakfast and the perspective of the beach often the subject of the episodes.
- 26 Port of Donnalucata. In the sheltered harbor that juts out into the sea is the place of the disappearance of Dr. Saverio Landolina, in the episode The cat and the goldfinch. Landolina's disappearance apparently occurred while fishing was actually a staging to be able to disappear without problems.
- 27 Anna Tropeano's house. In the episode The voice of the violin Inspector Montalbano often visited the woman to question her about the murder of her friend Michela Licalzi. The same location also appear in the episode Artist's touch.
- The Donnafugata waterfront was also used in the episode The shape of water when for the first time, the Swedish Ingrid Sjostrom appears on board her car, who will later become a trusted friend of Montalbano.
La mànnara
- 28 La mànnara (Furnace Pen). Neither The patience of the spider on the road behind the building the scooter of Susanna Mistretta mysteriously disappeared is found. Montalbano stops to observe the position of the scooter leaning against the fence of reeds, but strangely placed in the opposite direction to that in which the girl was headed ...
- Here the corpse of the engineer Luparello is found in The Shape of Water. But it is also the same location that is the background to other episodes such as The smell of the night, where the accountant Emanuele Gargano kills Giacomo Pellegrino with whom he was in business.
- 29 Catacombs of the Larderia (Cava d'Ispica). Inside this cave a scene was shot in the episode The patience of the spider.
