Mono Monday: 1693

Looking at this week's theme, I thought I would use a classic view of Ibla from Ragusa, and talk about the earthquake of 1693 which decimated eastern Sicily. 70 towns and cities destroyed by the biggest earthquake ever experienced in Italy, and 60,000 dead. This event is something we have followed all week, because the re-building saw the flowering of Sicilian baroque as places were rebuilt afresh, some on their old sites (Catania), some moved to new locations (Noto), and some a mix of the two (Ibla re-built for the landed gentry, the new middle classes creating a new settlement at adjacent Ragussa). Beauty from disaster. If my i-pad will let me, I'll add an extra.

But I am instead using a scene today in Ibla. The film crews turned up unexpectedly to film a scene for Montelbano. We really like both TV series (old and young) so we joined two couples from Turin watching the action. The vehicles here are in an area where cars can park, and the sign has numbers so fits the bill. And J is in seventh heaven having seen Luca Zingaretti - so there's another number !