Sicily’s southernmost airport is due to open within days, said Italian news stories.

This is the Vincenzo Magliocco airport, named after a pilot who died during the Second World War. The new airport is five kilometers away from Comiso, which is just 15 kilometers away from Ragusa. It used to be a NATO base until a few years ago. From there to Malta it will be just 10 minutes of flying time while to reach North Africa one needs around half an hour. The airport will be the first civil airport in Italy to be opened in this new millennium. Its runway is 2,546 metres long, 60 metres wide and will be run by the Catania airport. It is expected that within a few years around one million passengers will be using it every year. The airport lies in the centre of three Sicilian towns renowned for their baroque beauty – Ragusa Ibla, Modica and Scicli. At the same time Ragusa Marina will open a new tourist port with room for 800 yachts, wireless connections, new connections for fuel and a webpage through which one can book one’s place.