Modica

This is probably best viewed through the lens, I'm mesmerised by all the little details.

At last another backblip of our holiday in Sicily. This was part of the town of Modica that sits on two sides of a steep valley. The town was completely demolished in the great earthquake of 1693, so everything is more recent than that. The churches were rebuilt in glorious Baroque style, while warrens of small houses crept up the valley sides.

However, the real reason for coming to Modica was to sample the local chocolate, which is said to be the finest in Italy. The oldest chocolate shop, the Antica Dolceria Bonajuta sits in the valley bottom way below this vantage point, and is generous with its samples. We tried a large number of different types before making our choices. Fortified by the sugar, we sprinted back up the hill to where we had left the cars.

This was a day of old towns, magnificent Duomos, wonderful gelatos, mad driving capped off with a superb meal in the old town of Ragusa.

I think this is my favourite photo of the trip, not because it has any particular photographic merit, but just because it captures the extraordinary view across the valley of the jumble of houses, climbing up the opposite slope: an unplanned development, yet so harmonious.