Trace the steps of Inspector Montalbano
and see the real life locations used for the TV series
( 20min Away from our villa)
Andrea Camilleri’s detective novels, featuring the irascible yet warm-hearted Inspector Montalbano, have long been international best-sellers.
Home for the Inspector is the southern Sicilian town of Vigata – a thinly veiled disguise for the author’s childhood home of Porto Empedocle only 20min from Villa Gioiosa.
At the heart of the town is Via Roma where the literary Salvo Montalbano likes to stop at his favourite Caffè Albanese for a coffee and cannolo, freshly baked and filled with sweet ricotta on the premises. The real Albanese has changed its name to Bar Vigata and is a magnet for all Salvo aficionados. Just down the road, leaning on a lamppost, is a statue of the inspector with a full head of hair and bushy moustache.
Visiting the south-eastern angle of Sicily, from Agrigento to Siracusa is like taking a tour behind the scenes of the movie: the famous television series of inspector Salvo Montalbano.
The inspector was created about 15 years ago by the Sicilian author Andrea Camilleri who was born in this area, more precisely in Porto Empedocle. Montalbano soon became very popular both as a TV series and as a novel. Nearly all the episodes have been filmed in so-called Baroque Sicily and along the sea side strip that goes from Porto Empedocle to Capo Passero.
Visit his sea-side house located at Punta Secca, renamed ‘Marinella’ in the fiction. A lot of the movie scenes have been shot from the balcony of this house. Take a stroll on the beach in front of the house overlooking the sea and imagine Montalbano on the balcony
Just 30 meters further there is a small bar where you can try the famous arancini (a Sicilian specialty) and a favorite of inspector Montalbano. The place is called Arancini di Montalbano so you can’t really miss it.They have several types of arancini, we recommend the ones filled with aubergines.
Follow the inspector at his workplace: the Commissariato (police station) of Vigata, the fictional town where most of the action takes place. This commissariato is located in Scicli, a small baroque town in the Val di Noto, and is not actually the police station but the town hall. We suggest you have a seat on the terrace of the bar facing the town hall. While having a coffee close your eyes and imagine Montalbano and his men actively working in that commissariato.
