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School description

The “I.I.S. Archimede” is a High school situated in Modica, in the new part of the city where several other schools are located.

It was founded in 1861 but it changed through the years, indeed we can still remember its history thanks to our school museum which contains stuffed animals and old instruments which we are proud to have in our collection. It’s a Technical Secondary School with about 750 students and with 5 main sections: Economics, Tourism, Information Technology, Surveying, Graphics and Communication and moreover a three years section for adult education.

The building is very big and is divided in two parts, an old part and a new one; the first includes chemical, physics, design and linguistic laboratories. The new part contains several I.T. laboratories and a 3.0 lab, which is mostly used for our online newspaper “Eureka”. There are interactive boards in all classrooms and a big historical library full of precious ancient books.

The school usually takes part into many projects, for example Erasmus+ and “the Memory Train” which every year goes to Poland in order to visit the concentration camp and honour the people who died during the second World War. There is a big gym where students can have several activities like soccer, basketball, volleyball and tennis table. The school also organize annual sport tournaments like soccer, athletics and running.

In the first two years, school provides a general education (humanistic and scientific subjects), in the last three years education includes job orientated subjects (specific subjects).

Country amd city description

Country description

Italy is situated in the South part of Europe. Rome is its capital city. It is divided in 20 regions and includes different types of environment from mountains to seas. It is home to the greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage sites in the World. High Art and monuments can be found everywhere around the country. Its great cities of art, like Rome, Venice and Florence, are world famous and have been attracting visitors for centuries. Besides its art treasures, Italy also features beautiful coasts, alpine lakes and mountains.The highest European volcano, Etna, is located in Sicily (Catania). No wonder if it is often nicknamed “The Bel Paese” (The Beautiful country)!

City description

Modica is a little city situated in the South of Sicily, it counts about 55.000 people; It’s a very old city, it was founded by the ancient Greece 3.000 years ago and has seen many populations through the millennia. In 1691 Modica was hit by an earthquake which caused its destruction. After this catastrophic event Modica has been rebuilt in a different style, the Baroque one. In 2002 it was included in the World Heritage list UNESCO together with the Val di Noto, for its historical center.

Nowadays the city of Modica is divided into three parts: the old part (Modica Bassa), the new part (Modica Sorda) and the high part (Modica Alta), while the suburban areas are two: Frigintini in the countryside and Marina di Modica in the coastline.

The town was born where used to be a river that nowadays flows underground the main street of the city: Corso Umberto, a street full of shops and restaurants.

The highest point of Modica is Pizzo Belvedere where you can enjoy a lovely view of the old town; during night time beautiful lights underline its natural beauty. Another important site is Ponte Guerrieri, one of the highest bridges of Europe.

Modica is well-known as “The City of the 100 Churches”, as a matter of fact there are many of them hidden around the three parts of the city. Modica is also famous for its chocolate which is an inheritance left by Spanish colonies when the city was the most important County of the South Italy. The recipe comes from The Americas and in particular by the Aztects. It’s craftsmanship worked cold, a biological product, made from very few and easy ingredients.