That is one terrific area for eating!!!
I was in the SE corner off the island in 2023, and again in September of 2024.
I wrote some pretty long reports about where I ate; you might have to wade past areas that are not on your itinerary, but I hope this helps. In Ragusa, I would not repeat at IL Duomo; nothing was at all bad about it but I did not feel as if it carried the sense of place that so imbues LA MADIA in Licata. If you were to take a detour, I would highly recommend LA MADIA. But even without that detour, there is such marvelous eating all around there…
In case you will begin your trip in Catania:
Long ahead, with Ragusa beginning in post#34, and more towards the end of the thread, and details of LA MADIA, Salina (Aeolians, and more Catania…kind of jumbled up cause I had trouble posting photos)
We had one dinner in Scicli, at BAQQALA:
In Siracusa, DON CAMILLO gets very mixed reports. They have a la carte as well as tasting. It’s on the elegant side but, as you’d expect, far from formal. The same warmth and welcome from staff as we found all over the island. I went for their spaghetti with Ricci di mare, which was not so easily found in September. (Not sure if it was the month or if there was a ban, but after confirming that they had it here–it’s one of their signature dishes–I booked, and we had an excellent dinner)
Our second dinner was on the Siracusa side of the bridge, a few steps from that bridge, at LATTERIA DI MAMA IABICA, recommended to me here by Jen Kalb, via SlowFood’s Osterie guide.
That evening, the restaurant played host to a large group of dressed-up Italians from the G7 summit, but we sat outside and service did not suffer in the least. Seemed like a popular spot for locals and we were happy with our dinner, but I was very sorry that I ordered the tuna, rather than the rabbit. (Imagine the I still remember my mistake, more than half a year later). The tuna was fine, just plain, and I had such memories of a rabbit in agrodolce that I had just swooned over on Salina. Never minding all that, I’d recommend a meal here; I think they have no website, but now bookable on TheFork.
If you don’t mind sharing the link to your AirB&B (if it’s rural), I could try to recommend restaurants within an easy drive…(assumption that you will have a car, perhaps wrong. (??). )
