36.824° N, 15.105° E
Complete guide
Spiaggia di Calamosche: beach guide
What the beach is like
Spiaggia di Calamosche lies in the municipality of Noto, in the province of Siracusa, in Sicily. It faces the Ionian Sea. It is a small beach enclosed between two rocky headlands. Numerous crevices, cavities and small caves open up in the two headlands.
The cove is 200 metres long, squeezed between two rocky promontories full of ravines and caves, with Mediterranean scrub; Visit Sicily describes it as having calm water. The official Visit Sicily website, in its page on the Vendicari reserve, calls it the best-known beach, set among the rocks and the Mediterranean scrub. The Italia.it portal also describes it as the most famous beach in the reserve. In 2005 Legambiente's Guida Blu gave it the title of "most beautiful beach in Italy".
Getting there
To reach it you take provincial road 19 (Pachino-Noto) and turn right, following the signs for Calamosche, after about 11.40 km of road from Pachino.
The reserve has several nature trails. One starts from the beach of Eloro, by the excavations of the archaeological site of the same name, and leads to the beach of Marianelli and then to Calamosche. A second trail leads to the tuna fishery (tonnara), a tower and the beach of Vendicari. According to Visit Sicily, the trails along the sea are easy and connected to each other. The same portal suggests allowing at least a day for each trail leading to the beaches. A mountain-bike trip is also possible, on dirt tracks and tarmac, starting from Noto station on the Siracusa-Ragusa line.
When to go
According to QualeSpiaggia data, the beach faces east. With the grecale (north-east wind), the levante (east wind) and the scirocco (south-east wind) the wind blows in from the sea and the beach is exposed to waves and rough water. With the libeccio (south-west wind), the ponente (west wind) and the maestrale (north-west wind) the wind blows from the land: the beach is sheltered and the sea close to shore tends to be calmer. The tramontana (north wind) and the ostro (south wind) hit it from the side. This is an indication derived from the orientation, not a forecast. According to Wikipedia, the two headlands keep the sea almost always calm.
For those interested in birds, in winter the osprey can be seen in the reserve's brackish marshes (pantani). In spring both the white and the black stork can be seen.
Seabed and sea
The beach is sandy. In the 2025 season the European Environment Agency (EEA) rated the bathing water quality as excellent. Along the coast of the reserve, beaches of fine, pale sand alternate with rocky shores and stretches of salt water where migratory birds stop.
Facilities and free beach
According to Visit Sicily, there are no bars or restaurants along the reserve's trails. For this reason it is worth bringing plenty of water and snacks. Water shoes, sunscreen and a hat for the hottest hours are also useful things to pack. It is advisable to take all your rubbish back with you.
Rules and protected areas
Calamosche lies within the Oasi faunistica di Vendicari nature reserve (riserva naturale orientata). The reserve covers about 1,512 hectares in the municipal area of Noto and was established by regional decree D.A. no. 81/44 of 14 March 1984. The managing body is the Department of Rural and Territorial Development of the Regione Siciliana. The reserve is listed among the Ramsar wetlands of international importance and is a Natura 2000 site (ZSC ITA090002 Vendicari).
The reserve is a narrow strip of land along the coast of the Siracusa area, with rocky and sandy shores, Mediterranean scrub, brackish marshes, salt pans and garrigue. Because of its marshes, some of them highly saline, it is a stopover for migratory birds and has been called "the birds' hotel". The species mentioned include grey herons, flamingos, mallards, cormorants and black-winged stilts. The plants include juniper, tamarisk, glasswort, sea lavender (limonium) and spiny chicory. Inside the reserve it is advisable to stay on the marked trails and not to disturb the animals.
Nearby
The beach lies between the archaeological remains of Eloro and the Vendicari wildlife oasis. The Spiaggia di Marianelli lies 1.1 km to the north as the crow flies and the Spiaggia di Eloro 1.7 km to the north. The Spiaggia di Vendicari is 2.6 km to the south. Lido di Noto is 3.5 km to the north and Marzamemi 9.2 km to the south. The town of Noto lies 8 km to the north as the crow flies. Its historic centre was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site on 25 June 2002, together with the other late-Baroque towns of the Val di Noto.
Of Eloro, a Syracusan city dating from the end of the eighth century BC, the theatre, a temple, the agora, the Stampace tower, the Pizzuta column and parts of the walls remain. By the beach of Vendicari, a fifteenth-century tower and the tuna fishery, built in the eighteenth century to process tinned tuna, stand on the headland above the sea. In that area the Pantano Piccolo is described as a good place for birdwatching. The southernmost trail of the reserve starts from the Cittadella Maccari, a Byzantine village of the sixth century AD, with the remains of Byzantine catacombs and the Trigona, a Byzantine cuba with three apses. Finally, there is the Roman villa of Tellaro, where rich floor mosaics were found that are thought to date from the fourth century AD.
Sources
- QualeSpiaggia — open data spiagge (CC BY 4.0)
- Wikipedia (it) — Spiaggia di Calamosche
- The most beautiful beaches in Sicily | Visit Sicily Official Site
- Riserva di Vendicari - Visit Sicily
- Riserva naturale orientata Oasi Faunistica di Vendicari - Italia.it
- Riserva Naturale Oasi faunistica di Vendicari - Regione Siciliana - Portale ORBS
- EEA — Bathing water quality 2025 (IT019089013017)
- Wikipedia (it) — Noto (Italia)