Hotel dell'Orologio

We stayed for two nights in March and loved the charm of the old city. The staff were terrific, and the associated restaurant was fantastic. The rooms are all different and spread across the city; ours was a small room in an old castle near the restaurant and breakfast area. Be ready for lots of steps and uneven ground. Choose your room carefully to suit your needs. I’d come back.

I loved visiting Ragusa Ibla and meeting so many wonderful people, but our stay at this hotel was miserable, and I wouldn’t recommend it. There were positive points: it was close to parking, between Ragusa and Ragusa Ibla so it was easy to walk around town, and the terrace had a beautiful panoramic view. Our room was large and clean, with lovely furniture that worked well with the exposed brick. But the problems with service outweighed those good things, especially when there were other places with vacancies. Communication was a problem from the day we arrived at the train station. We had arranged and paid for a pickup, but nobody from the hotel met us. There were no information booths, employees, or taxis there, and we had told the hotel we wouldn’t have a way to communicate once we arrived. We needed Wi-Fi for WhatsApp, so we didn’t know they’d sent a message saying the car wasn’t coming. They hadn’t arranged a taxi instead, even though they knew when we were due and apparently hadn’t noticed we weren’t checked in. We might have been stranded for hours if a cab driver hadn’t arrived about 45 minutes later to pick up the last couple at the station. He called another taxi for us and stayed until it came. That driver dropped us at the entrance to the alley. At reception there was no apology. We asked for a map of Ragusa and were told it would be printed a week after we left. They later said they’d have one delivered to our room that evening, but we stayed four nights and never received it. When I booked, I asked for a low floor because of my knee problems and knew there were different rooms and locations. Instead, ours was at the top of many stairs with a rickety stairwell. I reminded the receptionist about my request, but she said there were no other rooms and offered no help. We didn’t have luggage, but help would still have been expected at a hotel. The stones were slippery when wet, and there was no night light in the evening, which felt unsafe. We weren’t told we had a double room with two bathrooms. One bathroom door was slightly ajar, so we closed it with the key. The Wi-Fi was awful, and whenever we went downstairs there was nobody at reception. There were no instructions for using the phone, and without cell service it was frustrating to go down the stairs for help and find no one. We asked for assistance the day before leaving, but after struggling with our bags to reception, we were told the car couldn’t enter the area, which didn’t help. The language was an issue for us, but we managed to communicate just fine for the rest of our visit. I’d still recommend visiting Ragusa Ibla, but staying somewhere else unless you speak Italian and can be sure you’re getting exactly what was promised.

The rooms are beautiful, clean, spacious, and furnished with comfortable bedding against rustic stone walls. The staff were remarkably helpful and responsive, and the hotel was superb in every respect. It can be difficult to find, though, so study the area before you arrive or hire a taxi from the public parking lot.

The terrace was the first thing that made Ragusa feel magical, with wide views over the old town. We had a private entrance up a couple of flights of outdoor stone steps, and Claudia welcomed us and showed us the way. Our suite, Guccione Mare, was spotless and warm, with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, lovely stone floors, an exposed stone wall and a beautiful tiled bathroom. Vittorio (I think I have the name right) made an omelette with fresh ricotta that I liked so much I need to learn how to cook it. There was also fruit, meats, cheeses, breads, preserves, croissants, juice and coffee at breakfast, the best I had in Sicily. We picked Hotel Dell'Orologio for our first Ragusa stay after reading Trip Advisor reviews, and if we get back, I wouldn't look anywhere else. Thank you, Georgiou, for your hospitality and for sharing your lovely creation with us. Your staff were excellent too.