RagusaIspica.
The territory has been inhabited since prehistoric times. There was a mediaeval hamlet here which was extended and fortified by the Normans. It became a fief of the Chiaromontes and then of the Cabreras, the Carusos and the Statellas. The town grew up further down the Ispica Valley; it was destroyed by the 1693 earthquake and rebuilt on its present site with the name Spaccaforno, which it kept until 1935 when it was renamed Ispica, from the Roman Ispicae Fundus.

The Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore stands in the square of the same name. In front of it there was once a colonnade, now closed in. The façade is elegant and simple in form, with two orders, three portals and pilaster-strips with flowered festoons. The interior is Latin cross with stuccos and frescoes by Olivio Sozzi. There is a painting by Vito D'Anna in the high altar representing The Madonna of the Quarry with Saints (1768). Via XX Settembre leads to Piazza Maria Josè where, at the top of two ramps of stairs, stands the 16th c. Chiesa Madre, San Bartolomeo, a church with a geometric façade characterized by flat pilaster-strips. On the central portal is the coat of arms of the Statella farnily, which has become part of the symbol of the town. From here, by way of Corso Garibaldi, we reach Piazza dell'Annunziata, with the Church of the sarne name, on which building began in the early 18th c. and was completed in the 19th (the fa~ade is 19th c.); it contains a magnificent series of stuccos executed around the middle of the 18th c., with Old and New Testarnent stories. In Corso Umberto I we can see Palazzo Bruno-Belmonte, built by Ernesto Basile in the early years of the 2Othc., in pure Art Nouveau style. Today it is the Town Hall. Sightseeing at Ispica is not complete without a visit to the Parco della Forza and Cavad'Ispica, q. v. The 3-hectare Parco is a very sensible creation, near the entrance to Spaccaforno, the old Ispica, which serves to protect and facilitate visits to the fortilitium, which centres around a limestone monolith called Forza. It is reached by way of la Barriera, a road on the outskirts of the town that winds between rock faces that are riddled with caves, once inhabited and now used for a number of purposes. In the Parco there are testimonies of various ages that enable us to retrace the prehistory and the history of ancient Ispica. Noteworthy are the remains of the 15th and 16th c. Statella castle fortifications and of Palazzo Marchionale, with its multicoloured floors, and of the adjacent Chiesa dell'Annunziata, which has many tombs beneath the floor (these buildings collapsed in the earthquake in 1693). Here too there are cave dwellings while at the far end of the Cava, just outside the Parco, are the rock-church of Santa Maria and the cave of St Ilarione the hermit; 2 km further on are the catacombs of San Marco and all the rest of the Cava. One curious feature of the Parco is the Centoscale: this is a tunnel with 280 steps dug into the rock stretching below the level of a river (it was the Busaitone ), used to get water in time of siege. In another cave is the Antiquarium, which has a rich collection of flint and lava tools, vases, coins, epigraphic tablets, etc. Even if we just happen to be passing through this part of Sicily , a visit to Cava d'Ispica, q. v., is an absolute must.