Notes by ANTASICILIA-ONLUS.

The province of Ragusa.

The province of Ragusa occupies the southern point of Sicily, along the Sicilia canal, it covers an area from Pantani Longarini (15° E from Greenwich) to the mouth of the Acate river or the Dirillo at the centre the Gulf of Gela; in the hinterland confines to the east with the province of Siracusa to the north with the province of Catania and to the west with that of Caltanissetta.

The complete area of the territory, together at the province of Siracusa and the southern part of the province of Catania, geographically occupies the upland of the Iblei Mountains. The southern area, with the provinces of Enna and Caltanissetta, according to the administrative subdivision of the Arabic domination are part of the Noto Valley.

In the territory, there are, from an altrimetrical viewpoint, several coastal hills evenly distributed, the lowland and inside hills, with only one expressive highpoint: Arcibessi Mount (906 a.s.l.) in the commune of Chiaramonte Gulfi. Besides this there are few mountains (the lowest centre , Pozzallo is 20 m. a.s.l. , the tallest , Monterosso Almo is 691 m a.s.l.) and it has a prevalence of coastal towns.

The landscape is strongly characterised, geologically and morphologically, by the prominent presence of light limestone rock, shared with the neighbouring province of Siracusa, its salient characteristics are the ample presence of low-walls made from local stone, a regular geometry that begins at the tops of the hills, rolling along the slope of the dales, down to the deep gorges and along the lowland, to form a dense setting in all the territory, marking the boundaries of fields used for cultivation or as pasture. Another important presence is represented by the carubs, secular trees that today are important for the area's bucolic economy, not so much for the caramel or the flour which are produced from the pods and seeds, but especially for animal feed.