The Modica List
Five editorial picks, ranked by the only filter that matters: why you are dining.
Accursio
Accursio Craparo's Michelin-starred Modica Bassa kitchen — Sicily's most decorated chef in his own restaurant, a 30-cover converted palazzo with €60 lunch.
La Locanda del Colonnello
Hotel Palazzo Failla's Michelin-starred dining room — a hand-painted 18th-century palazzo in Modica Alta with the most photographed canyon-view terrace in the city.
Fattoria delle Torri
Peppe Barone's Michelin-starred Modica Alta kitchen — now run by his daughters Sara and Elisa, with deep Iblei farm-to-table sourcing and the village's most architecturally distinctive dining setting.
Bonajuto
Italy's oldest continuously operating chocolate-maker — the 1880 Bonajuto pasticceria on Corso Umberto, supplier of cold-process Aztec chocolate to the Spanish Habsburg court.
Sapori Perduti
The Corso Umberto family trattoria — Modica's most authentic classic-Sicilian dining and the room locals push first-time visitors to.
Best for First Date in Modica
Intimate, conversation-friendly rooms. Impressive without being intimidating. The tables where first impressions are made.
Fattoria delle Torri
Peppe Barone's Michelin-starred Modica Alta kitchen — now run by his daughters Sara and Elisa, with deep Iblei farm-to-table sourcing and the village's most architecturally distinctive dining setting.
Bonajuto
Italy's oldest continuously operating chocolate-maker — the 1880 Bonajuto pasticceria on Corso Umberto, supplier of cold-process Aztec chocolate to the Spanish Habsburg court.
Best for Business Dinner in Modica
Power tables, private rooms, considered wine lists. Where the deal gets done.
Accursio
Accursio Craparo's Michelin-starred Modica Bassa kitchen — Sicily's most decorated chef in his own restaurant, a 30-cover converted palazzo with €60 lunch.
La Locanda del Colonnello
Hotel Palazzo Failla's Michelin-starred dining room — a hand-painted 18th-century palazzo in Modica Alta with the most photographed canyon-view terrace in the city.
The Top Five in Modica
Ranked against a single question: if you had one night in Modica, where would you go?
Accursio
Accursio Craparo's Michelin-starred Modica Bassa kitchen — Sicily's most decorated chef in his own restaurant, a 30-cover converted palazzo with €60 lunch.
La Locanda del Colonnello
Hotel Palazzo Failla's Michelin-starred dining room — a hand-painted 18th-century palazzo in Modica Alta with the most photographed canyon-view terrace in the city.
Fattoria delle Torri
Peppe Barone's Michelin-starred Modica Alta kitchen — now run by his daughters Sara and Elisa, with deep Iblei farm-to-table sourcing and the village's most architecturally distinctive dining setting.
Bonajuto
Italy's oldest continuously operating chocolate-maker — the 1880 Bonajuto pasticceria on Corso Umberto, supplier of cold-process Aztec chocolate to the Spanish Habsburg court.
Sapori Perduti
The Corso Umberto family trattoria — Modica's most authentic classic-Sicilian dining and the room locals push first-time visitors to.
The Modica Dining Guide
Modica sits in a deep canyon valley in the Iblei mountains 25 kilometres west of Noto and is the most architecturally significant of the Val di Noto baroque towns. The city splits into two halves connected by a 24-staircase climb: Modica Bassa (the lower town, along the canyon floor) and Modica Alta (the upper town, on the canyon's eastern shoulder). The 18th-century rebuilding after the 1693 earthquake produced a UNESCO World Heritage Site of unusual coherence; the famous 'Chiesa di San Giorgio' — at the top of the Modica Alta staircase — is the canonical Sicilian-baroque church facade.
Modica is also the historic chocolate-making capital of Italy. The city's 16th-century Bonajuto pasticceria — still operating from the same Corso Umberto location — produces the cold-process Aztec-style chocolate that the Spanish Habsburgs imported during their 16th-century rule of Sicily. The dining is correspondingly serious: three Michelin-starred kitchens (Accursio Ristorante, La Locanda del Colonnello, Fattoria delle Torri) within a 1.5-kilometre walk, plus a serious cluster of family trattorias and the canonical chocolate-and-coffee morning programme.
Neighbourhoods
Reservations & Practical Notes
Accursio Ristorante must be booked four to six weeks ahead in summer (June–September); two to three weeks shoulder. La Locanda del Colonnello and Fattoria delle Torri book at three to four weeks. Most village trattorias take walk-ins early but reserve aggressively after 21:00 in summer. Dress is southern-Italian relaxed — linen rather than tailored, sandals are acceptable everywhere. Tipping is not expected in Italy; a 5–10 per cent round-up is polite.
For a deeper editorial read, see our ongoing Editorial coverage — including pieces on the Impress Clients, Proposal and First Date occasion guides.