Marzamemi and its stone square

Twenty minutes south-east of Noto, on the flat coast towards the island's southern tip, Marzamemi grew up around a tuna fishery. The fishery closed decades ago, but the village kept its shape: a single square of low, sand-coloured cottages with the old owners' palazzo on one side, a small church on another, and the fourth side open to the sea.

It is a small set and it works because of the material. The stone is pale gold, the doors and shutters are painted in faded blues and greens, and the ground is worn flat, so a subject anywhere in the square has a clean, warm background at any angle.

Light is the whole calendar here. The square faces roughly south-east, so it takes the sunrise straight on and is in soft shade by late afternoon, when the sea beyond turns pale and the stone goes warm. Sunset is behind the village rather than over the water.

In July and August the square is a restaurant terrace from seven in the evening and full from midday; out of season, and early in the morning at any time of year, it is empty and completely quiet.