The countryside of Ragusa, Sicily, is characterized by rolling hills and large patches of farmland divided by stone walls -- reminiscent perhaps more of Scotland than an outsider's impression of Sicily. But the stone of Modica has a solid history throughout the region, and companies such as Avola Stone of Modica have specialized in extracting and processing this material.
The stone of Modica is a calcareous material -- referred to by the company as a limestone -- that is very difficult to process because of its high level of hardness. Armando Minaudo, general manager of Avola Stone, compared it to French limestone in terms of strength and durability.