Villa Carmela is in a very lovely location. Very walkable to both tourist sites and some useful daily stores (like a pharmacy down the hill on Via Marchesa Tedeschi).
A few things for travelers to be mindful of. Parking is a little tricky - sometimes it was very easy to find spots but other times if there was a wedding at San Giorgio, it was difficult. You don’t need a car in Modica, but if you want to take day trips (as we did), you do need to anticipate the parking a little. Lorenzo, who helped set us up, was very kind and helpful.
We shared Villa Carmela with another family and had 4 kids under 7 years old with us. It was not the best spot for unrelated families, as the guest house apart isn’t really usable if you need to be close to the other rooms (not a criticism of Villa Carmela just a tip to know). So we were sharing 3 rooms for 8 people, which was a little tight at times. Also the bathrooms are all open to the bedrooms —- fine if you’re just a single person or couple in a room, but trickier when you have kids sharing rooms or even if you need some privacy.
The house is up a long flight of stairs — Modica probably isn’t a great city if you have any mobility issues, but also good to know if you’re renting the apartment.
The house was spacious and the shared spaces were comfortable for us all to be there at once. There was also enough space for people to have space from each other.
We loved visiting Scicli and Ragusa, as well as getting to know Modica. The Gli Orti di San Giorgio is a really lovely garden cafe/bar just down the street from Villa Carmela. The gardens used to be public and we got the sense you could go sit there even if you didn’t buy anything. They have a mulberry tree you can sit under and homemade arranciata (like Orangina) that’s excellent. Their food was incredibly fresh and delicious. They’re part of the Sabadi chocolate store. It’s a really well-shaded spot to get out of the hot sun while still being outdoors.
The tour of chocolate making at Bonajuto was well worth €3 and had yummy samples. Their chocolate was excellent, although not everyone will enjoy the grainy texture of the Aztec-style chocolate. Their cannoli were also impeccable.
We also went to part of the Cava d’Ispica and visited the working flour mill. Maybe not a visit that everyone would find interesting, but it was fun for the kids and we took a little hike around there and admired all the lushness of the valley. Lots of delicious wild blackberries there too!