Modica is one of the most lovely cities in all Sicily. It grew up in the southern reach of the Iblean mountains and was originally divided into two areas: Modica Alta (Upper Modica), whose picturesque stone houses nestle on the slopes of a mount, and Modica Bassa (Lower Modica), lying down in the valley once flown by the rivers Ianni Mauro and Pozzo dei Pruni – covered at the beginning of the century because of frequent floods – where now runs the Corso Umberto, the city’s main thoroughfare and historic centre of the town.