The staircase of Santa Maria del Monte climbs 142 steps, each dressed in painted majolica: it is the vertical manifesto of Caltagirone, Sicily's ceramics capital since before the Arabs, UNESCO-listed among the late-Baroque towns of the Val di Noto. In late July the staircase is lit with thousands of oil lamps arranged in patterns for the feast of Saint James.
The potters' workshops — dozens, from tradition to experiment — are the real open-air museum, beside the official ceramics one. The terracotta Nativity scenes at Christmas are the town's other glory.
Near Caltagirone
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
