In search of Inspector Montalbano

Inspector Montalbano is based on the detective novels of Andrea Camilleri, a Sicilian writer from Porto Empedocle (Agrigento). The protagonist is Salvo Montalbano, and the stories are set in the imaginary town of Vigàta, Sicily. Although Camilleri set his books in a fictionalized version of the province of Agrigento, much of the show is filmed in the province of Ragusa and Siracusa. 
The origins of Donnafugata Castle could be traced back to the fourteenth-century. However most of its current Neo-Gothic appearance belongs to the 19th century. There are many local stories that try to explain the origin of the name Donnafugata, which translates from Italian roughly as "fugitive woman". Following what the name suggests, one legend claims that Queen Blanche of Navarre, widow of King Martin I of Aragon, was in hiding from Count Bernardo Cabrera, who wanted to marry her and assume leadership over Sicily. She hid in Donnafugata Castle until it was taken under siege by Cabrera, during which Giovanni Moncada helped her flee and hide again in the Steri Palace in Palermo. While this story may be true, it is not from whence the castle's name originates. It's more likely that the name is the result of a linguistic corruption of an Arabic toponym, Ayn al Jafat, meaning “Source of Health”. In Sicilian it may sound as Ronnafuata, hence the current name.
Punta Secca is the seaside village of Santa Croce Camerina, heir of the Greek colony of the nearby Syracuse. It was formerly called by the Arabs "Ain Keseb”. It developed at the end of the 16th century when the Bellomo family of Syracuse, in defense of their fief, had the "Torre Scalambri" constructed. This will be repeatedly restored in later periods. As far as Modica is concerned, there are traces of the edge of the city and, within the urban perimeter, the presence of humans during the period fo the Civilization of Castelluccio (20th to 15th c. B.C.). It was called Motyka during the Roman times and Mohac by the arabs when the city underwent a profound shift in the way that agricultural resources were used. The city attained great importance in the fourteenth century, when as a personal fiefdom of the Chiaramonte family, it became one of the most powerful cities in Sicily and the capital of a quasi-autonomous state ruled by the Spanish barons. The concession of emphyteusis, or perpetual lease, from the 15th on, introduced a number of privileges that allowed a greater distribution of the wealth that proceeded from agriculture, with the consequential growth of a strong middle class. Modica was rebuilt after the tremendous earthquake of 1693, on and between two deep gorges, dividing the city in two parts - Modica Alta, the upper town, and Modica Bassa, the lower town. Much of the reconstruction was in the form of churches. Modica is also called the “City of Hundred Bells and Hundred Churches”, and it won’t be hard to hear the chiming of bells while you’re there. Once the city was crossed by a tumultuous river, but following the devastating flood of 1902 the river was closed by a dam and its river bed transformed into Corso Umberto I.
Ragusa was founded as Hybla Heraia by Siculi people fleeing inland to escape the Greeks from Syracuse that will colonize the area later on. It was then ruled by the Byzantine, the Arabs and then the Normans who in 1091 made Ragusa a county. After the earthquake of 1693, the most enterprising bourgeoisie decided to build a more dynamic center on the ridge above (Ragusa), while the other half chose to renovate the old village (Ragusa Ibla). The popular Italian detective series “Inspector Montalbano” was filmed throughout the province of Ragusa and in Ragusa Ibla, Salvo Montalbano-fans will recognize the Cathedral of San Giorgio and the piazza. In fact the whole town seems to be a movie set.