July 25 th 2005. Pozzallo in the cover on the national magazine “Oggi”
that it defines the iblea town “capital of the clean sea”, classifying it to the
first place before Grado, and Rimini.
In the magazine you see on two pages a great photo of a line of the Pozzallo coast with
the Cabrera Tower in first plan, and the blue sea in which a splendid and smiling Simona
Gueli, Miss Sicilia 2004, takes the bath. Eloquent the title of the service of Gino
Gullage and Giulio Marino: “To Pozzallo, Miami of Italy, every dive is blue more and
more”. Pozzallo is classified to the first place in the special classification
elaborated by the periodical, making reference to a series of water's chemical
batteriologic analysis elaborated by the European environmental association Fee
International, the same one that annually assigns the Blue Flags. The city of Pozzallo has
achieved, for four consecutive years, the prestigious recognition of the Blue Flag, only
place in the province of Ragusa and in Oriental south Sicily.
In the classification for the hotel quality Pozzallo settles in to the seventh place,
preceded from Viareggio, Anzio, Cervia and Gaeta. In that of the beautiful time, keeping
in mind of the temperature, of the thermal excursion, of the windiness, of the damp and
raininess it is owed us to be satisfied with a tenth place.
“Clear blue of an African sea and Saharan dunes” you read in the article of
“Oggi” comparing “the impalpable sand” of our spiaggies to “that
of the other bank of the Mediterranean: grains of a reddish desert brought away by the
wind and piled up, one after the other, in dunes that draw the accesses to the sea. A
scenery from Heaven.”
In the article it puts on in prominence the good tourist proposal of Pozzallo and also its
inexpensiveness. Underlined also the possibility to choose Pozzallo as destination of your
own vacations, without forgetting to make a jump in the capitals of the Baroque Sicilian,
Ragusa, Modica and Noto or to effect in the zone naturalistic excursions and
archaeological runs of relief.
Space is also devoted to the wine-gastronomy, to the good wine and the pleasure of a good
fish just fished.
Pozzallo (33km from Ragusa; 18,000 inhabitants; 20m a.s.l.; zip code
97016, area code 0932) is the only coastal city of the province. It nestles in a beautiful
and much frequented bay.
The importance of Pozzallo goes back to the 14th century, when it was a
strategic military and commercial outpost for the County of Modica. The Count had a harbor
built there, the so-called caricatore, around which the Scaro, the earliest quarter, soon
grew up. This is one the most picturesque sides in town, thanks to its narrow, cosy
streets. The modern city has grown on a modern orthogonal urban grid.
HISTORY - The origins of Pozzallo are mostly unknown. The recovery of ancient
coins ranging in date from the 3rd through the 1st century BC provided evidence for the
Byzantine and Roman presence in the area. Its fresh water reserves made it an important
and obliged stop for vessels in the Mediterranean. The term Pozzallo right means “a
well at the seaside”. During the Arab domination it became a refuge for Arabian
warships, the so-called Dromoni. Because of continued raids by pirates, Giovanni Cabrera
ordered the construction of a lookout tower alongside the Caricatore, that would be then
called the Torre Cabrera. The works started in 1429; bathed by the sea and built with two
metres’ thick walls, loop-holes and over thirty metres tall, the tower was
fundamental to the protect the area. Over the years, both the Torre Cabrera and the
Caricatore grew in importance, as far as the terrible earthquake that in 1693 razed
Pozzallo to the ground. On 12 June 1829 Francis of Bourbon, King of the Two Sicilies,
proclaimed Pozzallo’s autonomy from the Modica county. The importance of the Torre
and the Caricatore would decline in the 19th century; the former was used as a military
outpost during the World War I and is, today, regarded as a symbol of the city.
ECONOMY - Pozzallo economy mainly relies on the summer tourism, fishing and
agriculture; the carob output is particularly important, Pozzallo being a major National
producer and exporter. Industry has much developed in recent years; many factories have
grown across the area.
TOUR - Pozzallo offers many attractions. The Torre Cabrera, built by Giovanni
Bernardo Cabrera in 1429, is especially worth-seeing. Recently restored, it is now
equipped to receive tourists. Rigth behind it, stands the Palazzo Musso, a beautiful
building in the liberty-style, dating from 1926. The Villa Tedeschi, rising in the very
town centre, is also worth-mentioning. A group of salty ponds, in the environs of
Pozzallo, are a must-see for bird-watchers.
