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15 Paolo Orsi Museum
SECTOR A,Bronze Age: Ceramics decorated with graffiti of Thapsos culture, burnished red ceramics, refined metal objects, jewels, mirrors and fibulas from Caltagirone, Cassibile and Pantàlica (1270 / 650 BC).
SECTOR B, Greek Colonization: material by Megara HybIaea and Syracuse, noteworthy an extraordinary Kourotrophos (mother nursing), a funeral statue with an inscription bearing the name of the deceased , a Kouros of the 5th century BC, a vase with inscription dedicated to Arternis of Pherae, the famous small stylized bronze horse of the 8th century BC.
SECTOR C, Syracuse Sub-colonies: Akrai, Kasmenai (Kore with dove 570-560 BC), Kamarina, Eloro, as well as Agrigento and Gela (Pelike, a species of amphora, signed by Polinoto 440-430 BC).
SECTOR D, Roman and Hellenistic period of Sicily, noteworthy masterpieces are:the Venus Landolina and the sarcophagus of Adelfia from the 4th century A.D.
🕐 Tuesday/Saturday 09-18. Sun.09-13. Monday closed.
☞ Updated Time schedule
€10. Reduced €5. (Cumulative with Bellomo Gallery/ Neapolis Park discount of 25%)
🚍 Open Bus stop: Paolo Orsi.
Don't miss a guided visit with a specialized guide
Next site numismatic collection , c/o Museo, 0 m.
Numismatic Collection
🕐Tuesday-Thursday-Friday-Saturday 09.30 - 13.30 Wednesday 9.30 - 17.30. Sunday and Monday closed.
Next site S.Giovanni & the Catacombs, 100 mt
The city offers the opportunity to admire archaeological remains that testify the Roman phase.
On the pre-existing greek agora square will be born the Roman forum.
It was originally a public space of considerable extent dotted with several monuments as reported by Cicero and adorned with "beautiful arcades".
Today the Forum is clearly divided by the road arteries of Via Malta and Umberto street , the excavation essays fall into the "Villini" area, the public gardens built at the beginning of the last century.
As early as the 19th century the Forum had been the subject of archaeological investigations by Cavallari who found a white marble column and some bases in the area of the so-called "Pozzo Ingegneri".
Subsequent excavations of P. Orsi and then Bernabò Brea confirmed an agora-forum stratification.
V. Gentili in the fifties and then G. Voza who, in the southeastern area of Piazzale Marconi found levels of the last quarter of the 8th century BC, houses of the 6th century BC, traces of the paving of the agora and the stylobate of a temple, have well documented the phases of the site.
The studies of G. Germanà published in 2013, have highlighted the continuity and transformations of the square after the Roman conquest.
In the portion at noon you can see a large stretch of Roman road paved with limestone bays layered on an earlier artery.
Inside the Exotic Garden - to the north insist on some imperial-age marble columns relevant to one of the arcades of the forum.
The Area of the Villini documents the exceptional importance of Aretusea Romanness. Unfortunately, most of the columns were reused mainly under Spanish rule and some can be found in Ortigia, reused in the palaces.
Remains of Roman columns
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The Tuna fishery
of S. Panagia
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Why to visit it: The 5 km route which brings to the Tuna offers beautiful views, the seabed in this part of the coast, particularly clear, creates beautiful scenery.
You can rent a bike near the entrance to the track next to the tobacco resale, or you can also walk off the track, along the cliff to better admire the coast. You can bathe in some places, but avoid leaving valuables unattended.
The Tuna fishery
It was finally sold to various private owners, for the first time in 1655.
The ruins of the existing factories can be traced back to the eighteenth century, probably rebuilt on an earlier plant after the earthquake of 1693.
In 1778 Vivant Denon mentions the tuna with the name of Santa Buonacia passing by to observe the remains of the Dionysian walls.
The Tuna fishery remained in operation until the 1950s when it became almost inactive due to the introduction of tuna fishing with "flying nets", as well as the high concentration of chemical industries and refineries in the area.
After 1961, the tuna fell into disuse.
Along the path
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Monument to the
Fallen of Africa
Why to visit it: the monument, an interesting expression of art from the fascist period, offers an enchanting view of the coast and the island of ortigia.
In the less hot and less crowded moments of the day it is a relaxing place, full of energy from which to look at the horizon.
Ideal place to greet the new day.
The monument
The monument features a side, the one that looks to the sea, in the shape of a prow, and is adorned with 6 tall bronze statues representing the departments of the army, from the navy to the air force, the indigenous African troops, the Ascari of Eritrea, who accompanied the Italians during the war, and the Italian workers in colonial Africa.
The monument
Its shape resembles that of a ship.
On the back of the monument were enamels of the main geographical locations that represented the battlefronts of the Italian army in East Africa in the years 1935 and 1936.
Inside the monument there is a votive chapel (15 meters long and 5 meters wide) dedicated to the Legionnaire and containing the statue of an Italian fallen in Africa; however, access to this chapel is forbidden to the public.
The choice of where to place the monument, once African possessions were lost, fell on the city of Syracuse because it, and especially its port, played a key role during the years of colonial war in the logistical transport of goods and troops to Africa, representing one of the main landings for the regime.
13 Latomie and Cappuccini church
LATOMIE CLOSED FOR MAINTENANCE
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13 Latomie
Engraving by Claude-Louis Chattelet ,18th-cen.
On the southern side that dominates the quarry they built their monastery. The monks turned the quarry into both a flower and vegetable garden to nourish the religious community, developing a system of irrigation with wells, tanks and also a water wheel which was used to lift the water.
It was a municipal garden until the 1970’s and provided the people with a place to spend enjoyable evenings as it was a custom to attend spectacles in the “Vegetable Garden Theatre”.
A visit to the Cappuccini’s quarry is an unusual experience where, not only can you feel the millenary history of the city, but also admire the beauty of the surrounding natural mediterranean vegetation.
The Greeks used the site as a stone quarry and possibly as a state prison for the 7000 Athenian soldiers made prisoners after their defeat by Siracusa in 413 B.C. as is narrated by Thucydides. ⤏
13 Church and convent
of Capuchins
Canon Nunzio Agnello and analyst G. Capodieci provide us with valuable information.
The Capuchin Fathers were born as a Franciscan Congregation and stood out for their shaved heads, long beards, and wore sandals, a brown tunic with a hood and a white rope belt.
They arrived in Sicily as early as 1532. Bishop Girolamo Bologna welcomed them to Syracuse in 1549 and assigned them the church of St. Mary of Mercy that no longer exists today.
The place soon proved to be unhealthy, the friars managed to obtain as a gift from the University the "latomia of the Palombino" in Acradina, now "Latomia of the Capuchins".
The convent was completed in 1582, the following year the church that took the title of St. Mary of the Dangers was completed, as it is readable above the lintel of the door.
The Royal Government for the Safety of the Fries built two drawbridges, one in front of the church door and the other at the entrance door of the convent, handing them a cannon with their respective artillery and ammunition tools that was placed on the lodge of the convent next to the choir.
In the crypt were welcomed not only the remains of the religious, but also those of noble Syracusan families such as the Gargallo who always proved generous to the Capuchins.
17 Roman Amphitheatre
Populus duas tantum res anxius opt
panem et circenses.
There was a Latin saying in Ancient Rome:“ the people have only two wishes: bread and circus games”.
The quotation belongs to the latin poet Decimo Giunio Giovenale, Ist. century. A.D.
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Octavian Augustus- P.Orsi Museum- The emperor to whom is attributed the amphitheatre. |
The widely used technique of limestone chiselling, the wall covering in opus reticulatum (little pyramid shaped blocks wedged in with the point facing downwards which form a criss-cross shape) used on certain walls, the wedging technique used for covering the vaulted ceilings made of opus coementicium (concrete which is a mixture of stones brick and mortar) confirms this historical transition.
Description of the amphitheatre built into the rock- F.Corni.
The amphitheatre has an external diameter of 141 mt. and an internal one of 118,50 mt. ; the ring is 69,30 mt. x 39,20 mt. The amphitheatre was probably 30 mt. high and it could seat 15,000 spectators.
The word amphitheatre (from the greek word amphithéatron) can be interpreted as the spectator’s space (théatron) that runs around (amphi) the sand ring, which is the space for the gladiatorial games, thus called because it was covered by sand (arena).
The Romans used both the word amphithéatrum and spectacula.
Siracusa’s amphitheatre which was one of the biggest of the Empire, reveals the popularity of the gladiatorial ludi (games) and the venationes (the hunts) with the Romans.
Detail of the Great Hunt, the Roman Villa Casale, 4th c. A.D.
Siracusa’s amphitheatre has a similar design to those in Cagliari, Sutri (Viterbo) and Sabratha (Lybia) created by the chiselling of the rocky banks with the finishing works made up of built up parts, mostly in a quadrangular shape which makes them differ from the Roman Colosseum which was entirely artificially built
The non original seat blocks of the amphitheatre were also used in the later period, from the time of Charles V, to enclose Ortigia’s city walls.
The eastern section of the seat blocks of the amphitheatre down to the lowest middle section has all been chiselled in the rock, whereas the western section has been partially chiselled and partially built on an embankment..
The spectator’s entrance into the amphitheatre was well organized.
It is well known how the seating section was by law divided between social levels: the higher the stands were the lower was the social level of the occupants.
The approach to the Podium, the Ima Cavea, the Media Cavea and the Summa Cavea, to which was attached the Loggia which finished off the upper circle of the amphitheatre, was through the complex system of steps which served as an entrance (vomitoria) and the disengagement of corridors in the open air (diazoma) or under a vaulted ceiling.
Mosaics, Young women in bikinis, Roman Villa Tellaro, 4th C. A.D.
The Podium ( the VIP’s section) which was a sort of verandah with a privileged view of the Arena, looks onto the crypta (a sort of gallery through which the beasts and the gladiators walked in different stages) and is reserved for the authorities, the senators, the high-ranking citizens who had their names inscribed in the marble balustrades, some of which can still be seen like the Statili, the Pilati, the Cestiani, the Sabini, the Alli, the Alfiani, the Rosciani etc. etc… (inscriptions dated between the end of the second century. A.D and the beginning of the third century A.D).
If one had to separate all the built up parts from the original ones of the amphitheatre it would not be possible to recreate the richness of the decorations which obviously must have been present.
This entertainment zone was equipped with a velarium, which was a sort of roof covering made up of light fabrics or animal skins placed high above.
The lower level was comprised of the central pit and the manouvering chamber from which the wild animals jumped out.
The pit was covered with mobile floorboards.
The pit was covered with mobile floorboards. It also served as a service-sink to clean the sand covering after the bloody games as it was connected to the cistern below St. Nicolò church, on the north of the amphitheatre. The water flowed into the dirty water conduit connected to the pit.
The name derives from gladio, a short sword used often in combats.
This practice of gladiator duelling comes from Etruria and like many other aspects of Etruscan culture, it was adopted by the Romans.
The belief that, at the end of the duel, the loser was generally killed by choice of the crowd is to be refuted.
It is likely that the spectators were able to express their desire whether the victim should live or die although it was extremely rare that a professional gladiator was killed, because these athletes were very expensive to train and to keep.
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Only he who behaved as a coward was “condemned to death” by the public, which anyway happened very rarely: these career fighters were expert showmen and the public did not want to see them die, so that they could see them again in the future.
The organiser, emperor included, had to pay a big sum for every gladiator that was killed. They were therefore not inclined to call for his death.
Anyway, if the gladiator was injured, the organiser could at any time interrupt the fight. ⤏
The retiarius Crescente for instance was looked upon as the “lord and keeper of female night-wanderer’s” (dominus et medicus puparum nocturnarum);
the Thracian Celado was referred to as “the heart-throb and beloved one to all the girls” (suspirium et decus puellarum).
Martial actually referred to the gladiator Ermes as “the torment and spasm of the female spectators” (cura laborque ludiarum).
As the unverified tradition goes, the blood of the gladiator was sought upon as an effective aphrodisiac, the Retiarius collected the blood of the injured or killed gladiators from the sand of the Arena with a sponge in order to sell it.
Parade-ground gladiatorial helmet of the thracian type in bronze, from the ludus gladiatorius of Pompei (1st century A.D).
The battle between Mirmillone and Trace, fresco from Pompei.
1) The Ludi, “games”, spectacles sponsored by the State.
2) The Munera gladiatoria, spectacles promotered and paid for by the élite to the public for special occasions, like fights to the death between slaves during the funeral of some relative or to increase their own popularity for political reasons.
3) The Venationes
If the Munera were acclaimed with a lot of enthusiasm, no less were the Venationes, a cruel and stupid spectacle, where the venatores ( the hunters) fought against the wild beasts.
For the venationes hunters were usually men condemned to death, prisoners of war, or slaves.
They wore a short tunic with sleeves with bands around their legs. As weapons They had wide- pointed spears and a leather wip and were often accompanied by a pack of dogs.
The wild and exotic animals were brought to Rome from the faraway borders of the Roman Empire and the venationes took place during the morning, before the main afternoon event which were the gladiator’s duels.
Among the animals in the venationes were lions, tigers, leopards, elephants, bears, rhinoceroses, stags, wild goats and camels. ⤏
Not long before the opening of the morning spectacles, every person who was responsable took his place in his own cell which corresponded to a lifting cage, where a beast had been let inside, and all together at the same time they let the counterweights drop, all the gates lifted up and all the ferocious animals escaped into the ring at the same time.
The spectacular effects of these subtle machines (pegmata), developed in a workshop denominated “summum choragium”, were so impressive that they were able to gave the people the feeling of being part of a real life scene.
The actors were in general criminals condemned to death.
These spectacles, which apparently only took place in the City of Rome, were very expensive, because the ships were authentically constructed with all the details of a real ship, and moved like real ships in a battle.
Often famous historical battles were reproduced , like the one where the Greeks beat the Persians at Salamina, or the one where the inhabitants of Corfù fought the Corinthian fleet.
A fortress was built in the centre of the pool for one of the naumachia to make it more authentic and to enable the Athenianas to disembark and claim posession of the stronghold “ Syracuse”.
The condemned could be killed either with the damnatio ad gladium or the damnatio ad bestias.
In the case of the punishment ad gladium, two people condemned to death would descend into the ring one was armed and the other one unarmed and the duel ended with the likely killing of the latter.
The condemned could also be burnt at the stake, beheaded, crucified and turned into human torches.
In the punishment ad bestias the condemned were mauled by the wild animals who were made more ferocious by being fed with human meat and kept starving for many days.
The success of the morning spectacles was due to the emphasis given on the ferocity and the bloodshed.
The damnatio ad bestias was the cause of the death of many Christian martyrs between the 1st and the 2nd century A.D.
6) The Lusio
The hoplomachie were simulated war games , where the arms used by the contenders were made to not cause injuries, they preceded the real fight before and during the most important parts of the munera gladiatoria.
As the Architecture in the century of fine arts in Italy has always had noble and majestic characteristics, there is no doubt in considering the amphitheatre as one of the most extraordinary monuments that have ever been built.
The reader should image the size of the first plan of the amphitheatre adding two upper tiers of steps, by having made this he will be able to picture the beauty and the grandeur of the amphitheatre.
The gallery runs round the whole perimetre of the theatre which had passageways or vomitori which connected to the central Arena .
Around the building there were some rooms which could be accessed from the same circular gallery.
The rooms were used as shops to sell various types of objects which were used in the spectacles.
I have no doubt that regardless of all the games that took place in the amphitheatre, there must certainly have been nautical games and water battles performed like in Rome. .
(Jean Hoüel, Voyage pittoresque des isles de Sicile, de Malta et de Lipari (1782 - 1787)).
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Statue of a Roman magistrate, 2nd century A.D., Paolo Orsi Museum. |
In Verrem is the name given to a series of written speeches by Marco Tullio Cicerone, also known by the name of Verrine.
They were written in 70 A.D, during a criminal law case in Rome where the prosecutors were the people of the rich sicilian province and the accused was the propraetor of the island Gaio Licinio Verre.
Verre was accused of de pecuniis repetundis, in other words of extortion, a crime which he committed during the three years of his government between 71 and 73 A.D.
The Sicilians who came to know about Cicero as the Chief Police of Lilibèo, elected him to take charge of the case.
Cicero’s written speeches analyse in detail Verre’s dishonest behaviour in relation to various aspects,
as a magistrate in Rome (De praetura urbana), as a magistrate in Sicily (De iurisdictione siciliensi), in the collection of the tithes (De re frumentaria), in the stealing of works of art (De signis) and in applying sentences to slaves that had escaped as well as bandits, pirates and roman citizens (De suppliciis).
These speeches were never pronounced because Verre, following the suspension of the prosecution after the Actio prima, did not turn up in court at the reopening of the trial, preferring to go to Marseille where he went into voluntary exile.
However Cicero published them and these speeches together with the two preceding ones contributed to draw him into the centre of the Roman political scene at only 36 years of age, a position which he held for almost 30 years.
Archimede’s Claw (The Iron Hand)
Despite diplomatic attempts to prevent the war between the Republic of Rome and the Kingdom of Syracuse the war broke out in 214 A.D., whilst the Romans were still engaged in fighting Carthage at the peak of the Second Punic War (218-201).
Roman forces led by Marco Marcello conducted the siege of the city port, renowned for its relevant fortifications and the great walls that protected it from the land and from the sea.
Among the city defenders was the scientist and mathematician Archimedes.
The city was fiercely defended for many months against the Romans thanks to the floating siege towers which, together with grappling hooks and ladders mounted on ships, were lowered by pulleys which had been placed on the city walls.
Archimedes invented defensive devices to stand up to to Rome’s power, amongst which was an enormous hook which was hoisted by a crane – Archimedes’s Claw- which was used to lift the enemy ships from the sea before letting them fall down.
Archimedes’s burning mirror
The legend also narrates that Archimedes invented a giant mirror which was used to redirect the powerful mediterranean sunrays onto the ships’s sails, setting them alight and causing a halt in the course of the assault.
In 212 A.D. everything suddenly changed because the Romans got to know that the inhabitants of Syracuse were going to celebrate the annual festival of their goddess Artemide,
and because of this distraction a small troupe of roman soldiers were able to approach the city under cover of darkness, climb the walls, enter the city and from then on reinforcements arrived to take control of the outskirts of the city.
Syracuse capitulated 8 months later thanks to the treachery of one of the captains of the Syracusan army.
20 Eurialo Castle
• Info
• The Castle
• The Antiquarium
• Vist the fortress
• Dionysian walls
• Insights
The construction of the Dionysian walls and the Eurialo Castle is attributed by ancient Greek historians to the tyrant Dionysius the Elder. Mindful of the Athenian expedition against the city (415-413 BC), he devised, towards the end of the 5th century, a defensive system that included the wide plateau of the Epipoli mountains, access to the city on the country side,
in order to prevent the Carthaginian invaders from building walls around the city and isolating it.
After the Roman conquest of the city in 212 B.C. the great military complex of the Eurialo was abandoned and reused only in the Byzantine age as protection against the raids of the North Africans.
The Eurialo Castle occupies about 15,000 square meters and is one of the largest and most complete military works of the Greek period.
Already known among the ancients, its name derives from the Greek Euryalos, 'great nail', referred to the shape of the rocky saddle on which the fortress is placed.
The name Euryalos is mentioned by Tucidide even before the construction of the castle.
The imposing fortification was built at the most vulnerable point of the Epipoli mountains , where the north and south sections of the Dionysian walls join.
Over time the castle underwent many transformations and extensions, especially in the period of Hieron II (3rd century B.C.).
Reconstruction by Flipped prof.
In the castle Eurialo the principles of the defensive art of all time are widely applied.
The advanced works, consisting of three ditches, arranged transversally to the dorsal, and the double enclosure of the main body,
demonstrate that the concept of subsequent resistance or scaling, which was applied too much by military engineers of the seventeenth century, was well known in ancient times. ...
In those provisions, which the highly advanced construction technique of the Greek military architects managed to make perfectly correspond to the purpose, and thanks to the copious development of underground communications, the concept of active defense is revealed to the highest degree.
The principle of inert mass and passive defense, represented by the gigantic walls, could be considered the characteristic of the military architecture of antiquity,
gives way, in the Syracuse fortress, to mobility, elasticity and resistance activity.
In 1941 during the period of the Second World War due to the bombing, the finds of the archaeological museum were transported using mules and hidden in the tunnels of the castle.
The Antiquarium
On display are the lithic spheres, used as bullets for catapults, a bronze helmet, pottery in common use, and the famous relief depicting a catapult, the symbolic object of the ancient building,
stronghold
impregnable place crowning the Dionigian walls.
A didactic-illustrative apparatus, with panels and multimedia supports, helps the visitor to better understand the visit to the Castle.
Visit the fortress
1 First Moat
it is 182 meters far from the bastions of the castle, a measure that respects the rules of "Hellenistic polyorcetics"(the art of besieging and conquering) dictated by Philo of Byzantium, contemporary scientist of Archimedes.
The moat is about 7 meters wide and 4 meters deep, leaving only a small central passage that served as access to the castle.
The presence of this first moat at a certain distance had a specific strategic purpose,
as it had the primary function of not bringing any enemy war machines closer than a certain limit,
guaranteeing at the same time a safe range for the ballistae of the castle which, placed on the towers of the fortified tower, were able to strike at a greater distance.
2 Second Moat
it had the task of defending the advanced fortification, the first barrier of the defense system, implementing the concept of subsequent or scaled resistance.
The characteristic of the moat is its perfect camouflage, in fact at a certain distance the moat is not visible.
A brilliant optical game that still deceives and amazes, this would have determined, in case of rapid attacks by the enemy, the risk of many soldiers to fall into the moat and being annihilated by the sentries.
The stone blocks that lie in the moat are the remains of the advanced fortification placed behind the moat, probably collapsed due to earthquakes.
3 Third Moat
with a narrow and elongated shape, 17 meters wide and 9 meters deep, it served to defend the fortified tower, the main body of the fortress.
A mighty wall that can only be crossed by individual soldiers through a narrow door would have allowed the archers to take down the enemies bottled up at the door.
The moat was equipped with a drawbridge that led to the fortified tower, of which the three imposing pylons are clearly visible on the south side.
which all lead to a single main gallery, arranged in a North-South direction, parallel to the wall itself.
This main gallery intersects with other secondary galleries.
Of these, the north one opens near the corner tower of the north-west fortified tower; the one on the south side connected the defensive complex of the urban gate.
The whole building has several very ingenious strategic elements that were used to catch any attackers by surprise.
The intricate succession of internal tunnels gave the opportunity to move troops from one point to another of the fortress without being seen outside.
Any enemy army that had managed to penetrate the third moat would have been broken from the right side in several places by the armies hidden in these converging tunnels.
4 The lateral Moat
The fourth moat on the southern slope defended the side wall on the Epipoli slope.
This moat is connected to the third one via underground tunnels.
5 The Fortified tower
The trapezium-shaped tower was protected by a triangular buttress (now collapsed), then replaced by five square towers (pentapylon),
15 meters high and crowned by battlements and lion head gutters (4th century B.C.), today exhibited at the Paolo Orsi Museum..
The 5 towers were built during the 4th and 3rd centuries B.C. by the successors of Dionysius, above all by Agathocles (tyrant of Syracuse from 316 B.C. and king of Sicily from 304 to 288 B.C.) and by Hieron II (tyrant of Syracuse from 270 to 215 B.C.).
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5 The Forftified tower
Archimedes is also believed to have contributed, a century and a half later, bringing strategic solutions in view of the imminent attack of Marcello's Roman troops.
The 5 towers were used to house the ballistae, which, located higher than those of the enemies, could strike without being damaged by them.
The building housed the barracks.
Traces of defensive works built in the Byzantine period remain, including the wall that separates the fortified tower from the internal courtyard.
6 The courtyard
Within the walls, spaces such as the internal courtyard were used to store supplies in the event of any long sieges and to house kitchens and various services.
The two large cisterns visible in the square were used to store large quantities of water.
The courtyard was surrounded by thick perimeter walls on which are the remains of 3 large square towers.
The south-east tower served as a connecting link with the Dionysian walls that from the castle reach Ortigia.
7 Urbica door (ancient city gate)
To the north of the courtyard there is another defensive system where, on a wall about 5 mt thick, there was the urban gate, the entrance to the city (access known as Tripylon because bulit with a set of three gates).
The urban gate guaranteed controlled access to the city on one of the communication lines for supplies or businesses from the innermost colonies such as Akrai and Casmene;
Pantalica is 20 km far from the castle.
Called "invitation door" or "pincer work", it was built in such a way that anyone who attempted to enter would find himself surrounded under the attack of the castle's militias.
With the tactical aim of limiting the frontal attacks, two dividing walls were also erected which limited their direct vision, as well as the charges of the rams.
The defensive system was also connected by galleries to the main body of the castle.
The Dionysian walls
and continued north, surrounding the huge plain of the Epipolis
and reaching the sea near the promontory of today’s Santa Panagia.
To the south, the walls ranged from the Eurialo Castle to the locality called Portella del Fusco and then to the Great Port.
The section of the eastern walls, now completely disappeared, protected the cliffs overlooking the sea.
The whole perimeter of the walls, except the coastal section, was interspersed by large towers (10 on the north side, 7 on the south side), which also served as accommodation for soldiers.
The perimeter of the Dionysian walls, according to Strabone, measured about 30 kilometers,
which placed them among the most imposing fortifications of antiquity,
comparable to the walls of Themistocles in Athens and the Aurelian walls in Rome. ⤏
Its width responded to the need to defend the city from the attack of the catapults and isolate the vanguards of enemy armies and move thus to counterattack.
According to the story of the Greek historian Diodorus (1st century BC), for the construction of the walls, Dionysius gathered the population of the countryside, choosing 60,000 able citizens.
He divided the perimeter into sections and assigned an architect for each stadium (an ancient unit of measurement corresponding to just under 200 meters).
It seems that he went to the yard every day and encouraged the workers that the walls were completed in twenty days.
The building material for the construction of the walls was obtained directly on site.
Around the walls are in fact visible cuts in the rock that correspond to the shapes of the ashlars,
then worked double axe and produced roughly in rather same sizes (120 x 50 x 50 cm).
In total, 5,000 tons of limestone blocks were extracted from the latomie (the quarries).
There is no data on the height of the walls:
from the comparison with the wall systems of Gela and Selinunte, it was assumed that they were 6 meters high
The width varies from 3 to 8 meters: the widest sections probably housed catapults.
Athenian siege of Syracuse (415 B.C.)
9 The Swabian Castle Maniace
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From here you can see the complexity of the fortifications from the Spanish and the Bourbon period (XVI-XIX century) surrounding the castle, also noticing the disfigurement that the Frederician building have had over the centuries.
The current masonry bridge, dated back to twentieth century, replaced the drawbar of the Spanish period built on the artificial moat.
The carraia door dates back to the XVII century.
After passing through the door you find yourself in the old Spanish fort ,where the bulk of the medieval castle stands out.
The plan is perfectly square (51 meters per side);four circular towers are placed at the corners of the building.
The front of the Castle consists of a perpendicular wall and a gate.
The foundations conform to the altitude profile of the rock below, being at differentiated quotas.
The “Maniace” had originally a greater development in heigh. ⤏
The castle portal
The main door, although considerably disfigured by subsequent restoration works, enchants for the very rich sculptural marble apparatus composed of columns, capitals, zoomorphic figures and floral motifs.
Quite impressive the ogival arch extending in depth, the stone ray above was damaged in 1614 by the insertion of Charles V's coat of arms.
On the sides of the portal there are two shelves on which, according to tradition ,two bronze rams dated back to the end of the IV / beginning of the III century b. C. were originally placed (a copy is visible in the internal exhibition). ⤏
A copy of hellenistic bronze rams brought from Constantinople by the Byzantine commander Giorgio Maniace, Prince and Vicar of the Emperor of Byzantium.
One of the originals is kept at the Salinas museum in Palermo, the other has been lost.⤏
Access to the enclosed space is through an opening, along a late-era wall, which falls in the middle part of the entire surface.
The hypostile Hall
When we enter in the famous hypostyle hall (from the Greek: hypóstȳlos meaning” under columns” referred to the covering), we are pervaded by a holy silence.
The hall is striking for the fantastic succession of limestone columns, culminating in richly decorated capitals, from which the ribs marking the splendid cross vaults depart.
There are 2, 3 or 4 orders in the capitals, representing ascending acanthus, palm, vine leaves forming an hook at the end. This is the point where we can find rural scenes, human figures, twisted snakes, inflorescences and fruits.
In one of the capital's crochet it's possible to even see a falconer on horseback.
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The ribs have a supporting structure only in the initial part, where the ashlars intersect with the masonry vaults built with white-yellowish limestone and bullous lava stones. These materials were used to lighten the covers. ⤏
Along the perimeter walls there are 2 fireplaces . The hall is the castle itself. The geometric center of the hall was emphasized by four groups (only two remaining) of marble and granite columns, with human protome capitals, such as the so-called Head of Constance.
The diversity of the material used, besides creating a pleasant chromatic play thanks to its greater hardness and resistance, was also useful to support and unload the weight of the thrusts of all cross vaults.
Furthermore the stones of Frederick's palacium speak. Every single ashlar comes with an engraving: letters, flowers, birds, geometric signs. By looking with keen eye it will be possible to see many of them.
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A well-preserved series is located on the inner wall on the left of the portal under the window.
These are the stonemasons' marks. The skilled Frederician workers were remunerated based on the exact quantity of the completed blocks, recognizable by the brands.
By looking at such an immense unique empty space, it seems logical to think it had no residential function. ⤏
Frederick II and
the falconry
The emperor in a hunting scene, a miniature from L'art de la chace des oisiaus, Paris, Bibliothèque National de France.Source: www.stupormundi.it
In his "Liber De arte venandi cum avibus" - the Art of hunting with the birds, one of the most important scientific works of the Middle Ages, Federico shows an absolutely innovative and revolutionary approach.
The falconry gets rid of its technical connotation reaching an higher level.
Until the eleventh century, hunting wild animals and then deers was intended as an aristocratic ritual.
The social organization originating in the Swabian age was strictly hierarchical, with the emperor figuring at the top, custodian of both the secrets of the art of falconry and the secrets of governing .
The bird of prey, Lord of the sky, becomes the undisputed protagonist from the moment he dives to the capture of the prey.
The spontaneous return of the falcon to his falconer after flying high in the sky, represents the ideal relationship between the lord and his subjects.
Like a director who directs predatory birds, dogs and horses on a beautiful stage: the nature, which is thus dominated.
"De Arte" is an essential source to understand Frederick II's thought and it's also, in our opinion, the key to interprete the Maniace Castle of Syracuse.
Not being part of the castrense typology, (except for the external walls), and not completely having a residential function, the Maniace Castle still stands as an enigmatic building. ⤏
5 St. Lucy alla Badia
Why to visit it: A theory says that the architect could have been inspired by the Temple of Solomon. Btw its Rococo´ style is gorgeous.
Also outstanding are the works of white stucco of 1705 done by the master Biagio Blanco of Licodia as well as the wooden crucifixes of the 14th century.
Francesco Tuccio was the goldsmith from Messina who created the silver frontal in 1726 from a design by Pompeo Picherali.
Along the right hand side of the wall one can admire “The miracle of San Francesco di Paola” painted on canvass by Giuseppe Reati in 1641.
The convent parlour of neo-classic inspiration is worth a special visit, built with an oval shape design,
its perimetre is emphasized by a series of Doric columns between which there are grates which allowed the nuns to talk to the visitors.
A pseudo lacunar dome completes this setting with a unique paving of majiolica tiles.
In the centre of the restored flooring there are the remains of the original tiled flooring depicting a pellican feeding it’s offspring.
6 The Places of Myth
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Why to visit it: Aretusa, with its spring, is one of the most well-known mythological characters in the world, as well as the symbol of the city of Syracuse.
Aretusa was sung by poets such as Pindaro, Mosco, Ovid, Virgil, D'Annunzio; told by historians Timeo, Pausania, Diodoro Siculo, Strabo, Cicero; depicted in coins by the Syracusan engravers Cimone and Eveneto.
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there was Aretusa, the sacred nymph to Artemide, the goddess of hunting to whom she had vowed her chastity.
The myth relates that on a very hot day, the nymph was in a forest in Greece feeling tired and overheated and therefore decided to bath herself in the refreshing and inviting waters of the river.
Aretusa removes her robes and swims in the river.
A young hunter by the name of Alfeo, a demigod, son of Oceano, happens to be walking in the vicinity and drawn by the sounds, approaches the river and remains enchanted by the nymphs beauty.
The Spring
In the body of water of the Arethusa Spring and along the banks of the river Ciane are present the only wild papyrus of all Europe.
The papyrus grows spontaneously only in Egypt.
The Myth
DECADRACHM of the Syracusan Mint.
Aretusa's head in profile, around dolphins.
Attributed to engraver Euainetos, 390 BC- Museum P. Orsi.
The large silver decadrachm (10-drachm) coin from Syracuse is regarded by many collectors as the finest coin produced in the ancient world, perhaps ever.
The chase continues in the forest until the nymph, worn out, invokes her Goddess Artemide’s protection.
The Goddess in order to help her escape her pursuer, transforms the maiden into a spring which rises in the faraway islet of Ortigia.
Aretusa disappears from Alfeo’s sight and the latter lost and bewildered, gathers his energies and invoking Zeus asks him help.
The God transforms him into a river but, playing him a dirty trick, he makes him flow into Greece and not into Sicily.
Alfeo won’t give up, and for the sake of reaching his beloved one, passing under the seas of Greece and Sicily to avoid mixing with the sea’s salty waters, after a long and strenuous journey under the seas he reaches the Great Port of Siracusa. ⤏
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Next: Area 13 Capuchin Latomies, The Fallen monument , the Tuna fishery 1 km.
Next: Area 14 Madonnina Sanctuary, Archeomuseum Orsi, the Catacombs, 1 km. (Taking via dello Stadio street and then via Gorizia street).
The monumental complex includes the Church of St. Lucy extra-moenia, the Church of the Sepulchre and, underground, the Catacombs of St. Lucy.
From the real palimpsest that is the extra-moenia Church to the octagonal Temple of the Sepulchre, it will be a journey into Aretusan architecture since the Middle Ages.
It will reveal to the visitor an underground reality of great archaeological and cultural interest. The area is in fact affected not only by the famous pre-Constantine Christian cemetery (as early as 212 BC), but also by some private law hypogea attributable to the 3rd, 4th and 5th centuries.
Particularly relevant is the presence of the Byzantine Oratory of the Forty Martyrs with the beautiful frescoes of the vault.
Protected by the Church of the Sepulchre, the loculus of the patron saint of Syracuse originally included in the catacomb will be appreciable.
M.Minniti, Martyr of St. Lucy (Galleria Bellomo)
She is revered as a saint by the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church; is one of the seven virgins mentioned in the Roman canon.
Her mortal remains are kept in the Shrine of Lucia in Venice.
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Returning from the pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Agatha, a martyr from Catania in 231, Lucia, seeing the saint in her dream and her mother Eutychia miraculously healed, decided to consecrate herself to Christ and to give her patrimony to the poor.
For the next three years, she lived in the service of the sick, needy, and widows of the city.
The pretender, seeing the desired Lucy deprived of all possessions and having been rejected by the latter, wanted revenge by denouncing her as a Christian. In fact, the decrees of the persecution of Christians issued by the Emperor Diocletian were in force.
Procession of December 13th
At the trial she held in front of the prefect Pascasio, Lucia refused the order to sacrifice to the pagan gods, attesting her faith and pride in proclaiming herself Christian, citing the passages of the Scriptures.
Threatened then to be conducted in a brothel, Lucia replied: "The body is contaminated only if the soul agrees".
Pascasio then ordered that the young woman be forced by force, but, as tradition has it, it became miraculously heavy, so that neither dozens of men nor the strength of oxen succeeded in moving it.
Accused of witchcraft, Lucia was then sprinkled with oil, placed on wood and tortured with fire, but the flames did not touch her.
She was finally brought to her knees and finished with a sword by beheading, or according to Latin sources, a dagger was fixed in her throat (jugulatio), in the year 304 at the age of twenty-one.
He died only after receiving Communion and prophesied the fall of Diocletian and peace for the Church.
Devoid of any foundation and absent in the many narratives and traditions, at least until the fifteenth century, is the episode in which Lucia would have torn - or would have gouged out - her eyes.
The emblem of the eyes on the cup, or on the plate, would be to reconnect, more simply, with the popular devotion that has always invoked the protector of sight because of the etymology of its name from the Latin Lux, light.
The church of S. Lucia extra-moenia is a true architectural palimpsest that with reliable documentation goes from the Byzantine-Norman period to the present day.
The Basilica stands on the site where the saint was martyred in the year 304.
The Syracusans built, after the peace of Constantine in 313, a church dedicated to the martyr of which we received, following the destruction caused by the various earthquakes and Arab domination, probably only the ancient plan with the great central nave, flanked by two minors.
The current church can be traced back to the religious restoration of the Norman period of 1100, of which the facade, the portal with the characteristic capitals and the first two orders of the bell tower are preserved.
Successive additions and alterations have modified its appearance starting from the fourteenth century, the time to which the rose window of the facade is traced.
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Notable is the wooden ceiling with open beams adorned with valuable 15th-century paintings |
The Baroque reconstruction , by Vermexio,can be found in the doors surmounted by windows of the two side apses; work of Pompeo Picherali are the gallery outside the temple and the last order of the bell tower of the Church
Closely connected with the underlying pre-costantinian catacomb dedicated to the Syracusan virgin, Saint Lucy, is in turn, unequivocally, single body with the adjoining convent of Saint Lucy at the Sepulchre, one of the oldest in the city, a time of the P.P. Observant Franciscans and then of the Reformed.
According to the analyst G. Capodieci it was already established in 440.
Both the convent and the church will always be the object of particular interest by the various rulers, from King Roger to Frederick II of Aragon (to whom the rebuilding of the fourteenth century) to Queen Germana of Castile up to the City Senate. All worked hard to support the convent complex.
Pompeo Picherali will be entrusted with the task of reconstructing the last order of the bell tower of the Church of St. Lucy damaged by the disastrous earthquake of 1693.
The same architect is responsible for the design of the "gallery ahead of the temple gates" that developed to the south and west of the church. Picherali had already undertaken the work in 1723 and completed them in 1743.
Twelve columns with decorative function on plinth that flank the arches.
The architrave with projecting elements in correspondence of the capitals, completes the crowning.
The vaulted portico became an integral part of the basilica serving as a shelter and as a filter between the outside and the inside and, moreover, linking the religious complex to the square, a place to welcome the solemn procession of Saint Lucy on December 13th.
The porch is therefore a scenic element that is well suited to the Baroque canons.
The sepulchre, even after the removal of the body of the Saint in 1038, by the Byzantine captain Giorgio Maniace who brought it to Byzantium, has always been object of pilgrimage.
The local tradition attests the existence of a small temple to protect the tomb already in ancient times. Vermexio demolished the pre-existing church dedicated to Saint Agatha.
The octagonal Temple has the entrance 5 meters below the street with and can be reached by two flights of stairs.
The loculus is located along one of the inner sides of the polygon and in correspondence with it is the only altar of the church.
Gregorio Tedeschi will realize the sculpture of "Dying Saint Lucy" in white statuary marble currently in the transparent showcase.
The statue is famous for the "prodigious sweat" manifested by St. Lucia, in solidarity with the people of Syracuse during the siege of the city, in 1735, under the Austrian domination.
Syracuse is second only to Rome in importance and extension of the catacombs.
This underground cemetery is imposed for its complex morphology. The area is in fact affected not only by the Pre-costantinian Christian cemetery (already in 212 BC), but also by some hypogum of private law ascribable to the 3rd, 4th and 5th centuries.
Particularly important is the presence in its interior of the Byzantine Oratory (6th century) of the Forty Martyrs with the splendid frescoes of the vault, found by the archaeologist Paolo Orsi in 1916.
In the fifteenth century a large part of the hypogeum was irreparably destroyed to make room for a cistern and the frescoes covered by hydraulic mortar.
Also visible are the changes and alterations suffered by the funeral complex during the last world war with the construction of an air-raid shelter by the U.N.P.A. (National Union of Air Protection).
The Martyr of the Forty Soldiers of Sebastia.
Some sources of the fourth century refer to the Martyrdom of the Forty Soldiers of Sebastian, city of Armenia, occurred during a persecution in the time of Licinius (313-323).
The forty soldiers stationed in Mytilene (close to Sebastian), refused to obey the prefect Agricolao, who ordered them to abjure the Christian faith and are condemned to freeze to death, immersed naked in a bath of the baths of Sebastia, under the surveillance of a guardian.
They are offered the chance to save themselves by immersing themselves in a hot tub, a temptation to which one of the soldiers does not escape.
But the temperature drop will be fatal to him.
The instant death is witnessed by the guardian, who will witness a prodigious event that convinced him to convert: angels will bring crowns to thirty-nine martyrs.
Stripped off, he will join the soldiers by restoring the original number.
In the morning death had reached the whole legion except one of them still agonizing that will be left free by the executioners, but whose mother will relocate on the hearse to keep the crown of martyr.
The bodies will be incinerated and the ashes scattered in the nearby river.
Some of the miraculously unspoilt relics will be taken to various cities including Rome, Constantinople and Jerusalem.
The Burial of St. Lucy by Caravaggio
Technique: Oil on Canvas
Size: 408 x 300 cm
The City Senate commissioned Caravaggio to do the work for the Church of “Santa Lucia outside the city walls”built above the Santa Lucia catacombes.
The very setting of the work, which involved the researchers in a precise identification of the sites ( the Rotonda of Adelfia in the San Giovanni Catacomb, the Cordari Grotto….) was to have a decided connection to a place related to a quarry or a cemetry.
the moment in which the two undertakers placed in the foreground with their corpulent figures, are about to dig the grave to bury the young Lucia, of which you get a powerful visual impact.
The lighting enhances the only red colour used by the painter for the deacon’s mantle.
The latter becomes the focal point of the composition, a symbol of gloom, which draws your attention to Santa Lucia’s body, the only horizontal element in an otherwise entirely vertical composition.
Behind her lifeless body stands a crowd of humble people crying, in the centre of the picture is the deacon and on the right, apart from the figure of the sodier is the bishop doing the blessing.
The Scene
The restoration of the painting in the 1970’s, emphasized the warrior’s armour and head, the position of the bishop’s mitre, with the two points in the forefront, both tufts and a double red ban at the bottom edge of the dress, the arched palisade and the vault which opens up in the background, the Saint’s hand and the tensed warrior’s arm” (M.Cordaro).
A dark background hovers over the characters in the painting.
It is well known that Caravaggio did not use preparatory drawings, and it is said that he used barber’s brushes to paint his works of art because they enabled him to paint more quickly and be more effective.
It is likely that the painter , at first embraced the Greek version (Papadopoulos Codex) of the martyrdom by beheading and at a second stage, the latin version which favoured the jugular (they stabbed her in the neck with a knife).
The scene is rendered very realistic by the powerful narrative in which every figure has an expression of suffering and shock due to the graveness of the situation. What strikes you most is the gesture of the Saint’s hand who appears to draw you into the picture, to make you participate in the grief of the people so that the message becomes universal.
The composition relegates the people on the borderline of the canvass to such an extent that the right legs of both the undertakers appear to move out of the picture.
The undertaker on the right is oversized and showing his back, a detail which in those days was considered disrespectful.
Not a big variety of colours were used; light is the main feature of the work of art. The lighting moves upwards from the bottom and from the outside with the purpose of freeing all creatures from darkness.
The gestures are so realistic that it feels like you can almost hear the sounds and the grievings of the people, the undertakers digging the earth with the shovel, the soldier’s arm and its armour, the gloved hand of the Bishop blessing, as well as the woman with her head in her hands and the other woman with her face bent downwards, the deacon’s clasping hands and finally the crying figure drying his face with a handkerchief.
And to accentuate all this, you can actually see the veins in the arms of the undertakers, feel their hair, their wrinkles, their ears all painted with intense realism.
Caravaggio’s choice is once again very precise and provocatory for us contempories, not the saints in the sky sitting on their golden thrones, but saints of the earth.
Saints dressed like commoners and surrounded by common people, among which is the distinguished figure of the Bishop.
Many of Caravaggio’s works were turned down by the Commission because they were judged to be disrespectful and provocatory.
Maybe it is true that there is a gospel according to Caravaggio, to whom the divine is revealed in the people, a gospel of deep sufferance, which becomes autobiographical.
The Bellomo Museum
🕐 Tuesday to Saturday 9 am - 6.30 pm. Sunday 09 - 13. Closed on Monday.
☞ Updated schedule
€8 - reduced €4 . (Cumulative with Museum P. Orsi / Archeo Park Neapolis discount of 25%)
🚍 Bus Open Tour stop: Belvedere S.Giacomo (300 mt).
To see the church of St. Martin VI/XIII century A.D. in St. Martino Street, further down for a brunch home made food.
For a refreshing bath Cala Rossa beach ↱
The building
From the original one remain the outer facade with its severe
structure with small stone blocks and with high plinth, the ground floor with quadrangular spaces
and majestic cross vaults of which, the ribbed one of the vestibule
in room III, still shows the Swabian imperial eagle.
Enlarged and raised as early as the fourteenth century, has undergone major changes in the
next century, when the palace was acquired by the Bellomo, powerful and rich
Syracusan family of that period, which adapt it to new housing needs
following the catalan architectural taste (entrance portal, staircase, loggia, mullioned window and
trifora).
In the 18th century, it was sold to the Sisters of St. Benedict's Monastery, so to be joined by the adjoining
Parisio palace built on 1355. Of this remain an ogival door and some sturdy arches
current access to the museum area. Expropriated from state porperty in 1866, the
palace was finally sold in 1901 to the Administration of Antiquities and Fine Arts
to dedicate it to be a Museum."
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Exhibition rooms Ground Floor
Room I, century V to IX
"Paleochristian and Byzantine sculptures from buildings
demolition of the fort in Syracuse."
Featured works:
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Sarcophagus with crosses, sec. IX |
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Fragmentary portal with architrave and jambs with limestone floral motifs, sec. VII – VIII |
Room II, century X-XV
Featured works:
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Marble holy water font with zoomorphic and phytomorphic elements, sec. X. |
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Pulpit slab (ambone) depicting an eagle, symbol of St. John the Evangelist, sec. XI. |
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Marble slab with mosaic decorations with lions faced with in the center a palm, white marble and polychrome marble, glass paste sec. XII with clear reference to Arab workers. |
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Tile with the Agnus Dei between the Annunciation and the Announcer Angel, sec. XIII-XIV. |
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Relief with Crucifixion between Annunciation and Adoration of the Magi, sec. XIV-XV. |
Room III, century XV
"Sculptural and pictorial works mainly of Spanish influence."
Featured works:
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Madonna enthroned with Child and Angels musicians, called "Madonna di Montesanto", sec. XV. |
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Madonna and Child Enthroned, between the Holy Eulalia and Catherine of Alexandria, early sec. XV, attributed to Pedro Serra. |
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Fragment (from a polyptych) on gold bottom table, depicting St. Leonardo, sec. XV, attributed to Lorenzo Veneziano. |
Room IV, century XV
"Painting works of Syracusan school of unknown authors"
Featured works:
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Polyptych of the master of St. Mary, sec. XV, of the same master the retable of San Lorenzo and stories of the his life, (sec. XV) representing the most expression of international Gothic in Sicily. |
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Funerary monument of Eleonora Branciforte Aragona, attributed to Giovan Battista Mazzolo, (1525), in Carrara marble, is one of the most grandiose funeral monuments of the Sicilian sixteenth century, (Detail). |
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Luster ceramics: plates painted in metallic luster, (sec. XV), Valencian workshops. |
Courtyard of coats of arms, XVI-XVII century
"Monumental Spanish viceregal coats of arms from the royal gates of the city, demolished at the beginning of the twentieth century".
Carriage Hall, 18th century
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Exhibition rooms First Floor
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Room V
The age of Antonello da Messina, 15th century
![](https://www.visitsicily.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Annunciazione-AdM-e1651306721793.jpg")
The announcement of Antonello da Messina, 1474.
The scene is set in a carefully described room, with a beamed ceiling where there is an architrave decorated with cartocci and rosettes, supported by two columns that ideally separate the right half (of the Virgin) from the left (of the Angel).
On the background wall there are two windows plus a third in another room that can be seen on the right, according to an iconography derived from Flemish art that provides more light sources and spatial openings on the landscape even in the case of interiors.
Fine is the description of the objects and furnishings of the room, from the bed of the Virgin in the background, to the chair-lectern on which she is kneeling, up to the flower vase with blue decoration on a white background in the foreground, now very damaged.
Remarkable is the white lace on which the book rests, allusion to the Sacred Scriptures that come true with the act of acceptance of Mary. ⤏
Room V - Century XV
Featured works:
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Dish of Glazed majolica, Syracusan workshops, sec. XV. |
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Miniature depicting the tree of Jesse from the "Libro d'Ore", Unknown Flemish author, sec. XV. |
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Tombstone of Giovanni Cabastida (recto), sec. XV, close to the style of Francesco Laurana. |
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Slab with Deposition between St. John and Magdalene, sec. XVI, interesting example of reuse in the 'verse'. |
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Madonna "Cardillo", attributed to Domenico Gagini, 1492. Particularly representative of the trends that characterize this period, derived from the spread of Italian Renaissance art, the beautiful Madonna and Child, called Our Lady of Cardillo. |
Room VI
Featured works:
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Wooden model of the city of Syracuse, second half of the eighteenth century , by Giovanni Carafa, Duke of Noja. |
Room VII, century XV-XVI
Featured works:
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Madonna enthroned with the Child called "Madonna del Soccorso", of unknown author, early sec. XVI. |
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Sarcophagus of Giovanni Cardinas, 1506, by Antonello Gagini. |
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Trinity between Saints Giacomo Pellegrino and Stefano, attributed to Mark di Costanzo, 15th century. |
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Madonna with Child attributed to Antonello and Antonino Gagini, end of century. XVI. |
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Madonna with the Child between the Sante Margherita and Lucia, 1497 by Antonello Crescenzi called the Panormita. |
Room VIII, century XVI
Featured works:
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"The Madonners" Cretans, Syracusan and Slavs, 16th to 18th centuries. |
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Of particular value are the eight plates of the 'History of Genesis' attributed to Emanuele Lampardo. |
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By Emanuele Lampardo "The Crucifixion". |
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In the center a portable hinged trittichetto of the school "Stroganov", XVI century, with Apotheosis of the Virgin and scene of the New Testament. |
Room IX, century XVI
Featured works:
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Massacre of the innocent, (16th -17th century) awarded to an unknown Sicilian painter. |
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Notebook of drawings on paper, by Filippo Paladini, (17th century), Tuscan mannerist, despite the gaping aspect remains one of the vertices of the artist's production. |
Room X, century XVII
Featured works:
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Of particular importance are the works, influenced by Caravaggio , made by the Syracusan painter Mario Minniti: Miracle of St. Clare, 1624, |
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Martyr of St. Lucia, 17th century, Mario Minniti. |
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In the showcase two works attributed to the Syracusan ceroplast Gaetano Giulio Zumbo: Scene of the Plague and the Face of Christ, 17th century. |
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Face of Christ,17th century, Gaetano Giulio Zumbo. |
Room XI, century XVII - XVIII
Featured works:
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Painting, sculptural works, textiles, silver and sacred furnishings: Immaculate and Saints, 1744, by William Borremans,(Detail). |
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Several rounds with biblical scenes attributed to the painter Constantine Carasi, 18th century. |
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Reliquary of St. Orsola, in the shape of a three-masted vessel, 1705, of unknown silversmith. |
Room XII, century XVIII - XIX
Featured works:
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Interesting for an historical reconstruction of the city, ivory and wood plastic city of Syracuse, by brother Peter Fortress, (19th century). |
Room XIII, century XVIII-XIX
Featured works:
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Nativity groups and nativity statues of G.Bongiovanni Vaccaro 's workshop . |
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Ceramic artefacts of Sicilian production, (19th century). |
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Interesting the "scarabattola" with crib figures in polychrome wax, attributed to the netino fra' Ignazio Macca, (18th-XIX century). |
1 waterfront route 1 km (under the sun), stages: Free Solarium Forte Vigliena, Papyrus Museum, Solarium Nettuno, Baroque palaces of Via Maestranza
Leaving the art gallery head to the left so as to resume the promenade and continuing on the same (keep the sea on the right), pass the Livingstone hotel, reach the open space called Belvedere S. Giacomo, shown below in the picture.
Arrived at the Belvedere San Giacomo take via Maestranza street on your left and walk it about 200 meters till the intersection with Via Della Giudecca street (there is the beautiful church of the Immaculate on the opposite side). To your left the beginning of point 11, the Jewish quarter.
2 Route via Roma street 500 meters (partial shade) , stages: Municipal Theatre and Piazza Archimedes Square
Leaving the Bellomo gallery, head to the left and after a few meters take Via Roma street to your left.
Walk all the way till the end (Piazza Archimede Square) then go down through first street on your right , Via Maestranza street.
After about 200 meters you will find the intersection with Via della Giudecca Street, with on the left the beautiful baroque facade of the church of the Immaculate.
The Jewish quarter is on your right.
11 Jewish district
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Jewish tombstone of the 400th , Bellomo Gallery.
The traditional components, the structure of the neighborhood with a strigas plant, typically Greek, the slaughterhouse, the houses, the hospital, the synagogue and the ritual bath, suggest the cultural depth, the economic and demographic importance of this community.
At the beginning of the XX century excavations in the hypogeum have reported important findings including oil lamps, funerary steles with epitaphs, epigraphs, characterized by a typical Jewish symbolism dating from the third and fourth centuries, which constituted a natural means of diffusion of early Christianity.
A letter from Pope Gelasius tells us of a Jewish Judas in Syracuse who had bought a servant then fled on the pretext of having been Christian and circumcised by force from his master.
In Syracuse at that time the Jews were not only owners of land or tenants in the “massae” of the church, but above all craftsmen, silk weavers, dyers, tanners and slave traders, activity that they maintained throughout the Middle Ages. ⤏
The church of San Giovanni Battista, whose original layout dates back to the end of the thirteenth century for its particular internal forms, typical of Swabian architecture, is an imposing building with three naves of pointed arches, supported by slender columns carved in stone, with a beautiful medieval pointed arch portal, surmounted by a curved rose window, without roof, without floor, without doors still used for religious services, known as San Giovanello.
The discovery of two Jewish inscriptions within the current church of St. John the Baptist is a sign of its identity as a "mesquita judeorum", that is, a Jewish synagogue transformed into a church and dedicated to the saint in 1496, three years after the expulsion of the Jews; however, the attribution of synagogue to the building is the subject of controversy among scholars.
The first inscription is engraved on a limestone ashlar placed upside down on the right wall of the central apse, whose meaning would be according to the translation of Cesare Colafemmina: “to the synagogue of Syracuse founded with justice and faith”.
The upside-down position suggests that it is a stone block reused during the reconstruction of the apse after the earthquake of 1693. ⤏
The identification of the meschita with the church of St. John the Baptist suggests that the synagogue had the same plant and orientation.
The solutions adopted in the Middle Ages for the separation of the sexes in the synagogue were of two types: building a gallery on the upper floor, or create a house leaning against the synagogue that communicates with the prayer hall on the same level or below the floor level of the room so that women could watch the Torah being extracted from the Aròn.
The current refined church portal was probably the entrance to the synagogue through a main courtyard.
Remains of a cistern with embedded traces of a Greek well are still visible in the courtyard of the side entrance for the women, since to avoid entering directly from the street to the orations hall; a vestibule with a well was provided for the ablution (washing) of hands and feet.
Another characteristic that is clearly visible today is the layout of the church below the floor of the square of 7 steps, this was needed for the Jews to build a large synagogue without, however, breaking the ban on Christian authorities to exceed a certain height from the road, so that the building did not seem high.
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Jewish inscription in St. John's Church |
Under the church there are three underground levels excavated by the Greeks: on the first level is the crypt of the church with 18th-century frescoes;
at the second level the underground network, fascinating underground labyrinth that connects the sacred places of the ancient Ortigia , used as a refuge during the Second World War;
at the lowest level a Greek well fed by a freshwater spring placed at 18 meters deep, probably used as mikveh, Jewish ritual bath and/or baptistry.
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The Crypt |
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The Hypogeum |
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The Bath |
A baptistery therefore of the beginnings of Christianity in the only place of Paleochristian cult where the characteristics of the site allowed the secrecy and the possibility to derive such element whose access is underground, far from the pagans' visibility.
In particular, this one inside the underground quarry of the church is an artifact used until years ago for Christian baptisms, where access to the source takes place through a beautiful snail staircase.
Finally reached Constantinian peace, Christians built on the site their first church, a typical service building that allowed access to the hypogeic chapel, important as it was equipped with the baptistry by immersion.
Subsequent works and refurbishments over the centuries, including the construction of a Byzantine church, have ended up making every trace of the ancient oratory unrecognizable.
“Only a spring and a well, that is collection of water will be pure” (Leviticus 11,36): this is the only verse of the Torah in which the miqweh is mentioned, which literally means collection of water for ritual dives.
Immersion in the ritual bath has in the Jewish culture a religious, spiritual value, according to some would be at the origin of Christian baptism because connected with the idea of conversion and the entry into a community of the faithful.
The dive is a habitual ritual for Orthodox Jews on Friday afternoon to prepare for the celebration of the Sabbath.
It must be built in the ground or to be an integral part of it, it cannot be mobile and it cannot contains transported water but only water that flows from a spring and is collected naturally without crossing pipes, which would make it contaminated;moreover the bath had to allow the privacy.
The minimum amount of water had to be 40 se'ah, that is, 87 gallons (293 l), the important thing is that a person could completely immerse himself even with his knees bent.
The whole structure of the miqweh seems to respond to symbolic motifs , as a matter of fact the repetition in the measures of the number 40 and its multiples symbolizes the process of birth and also about the process of creation ⤏
The Pantheon
With a circular shape, it is accessed through a large bronze portal, inside you have the only circular nave of the church, where you will find the tombstones and the remains of the Syracusans fallen at the front.
The main altar is elegant and next to are shown fine contemporary sacred works.
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Piazza Duomo
Cathedral Square
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Beneventano Palace
The late-Baroque makeover is due to Baron Guglielmo Beneventano. The coat of arms of the house makes a beautiful display of itself in the upper apex. Also visible is the epigraph commemoraging the visit of King Ferdinand of Bourbon on April 25th 1806. The prospectus is animated by balconies with typical bench railing. You can stop in the vestibule to admire the two inner courtyards.
The first is of great scenic effect with central staircase leading to the main floor. The second gives a glimpse of the graceful garden. The elegantly ornate flooring is made of cobblestone and lava stone. In the noble floor the frescoes and tempers are affected by the Louis XVI and neoclassicism syles.
The oil paints above the doors are from the Palermitan Ermenegildo Martorano. The family chapel has a fine 18th-century Neapolitan school flooring.
Distinguished guests were housed in the palace. In addition to Ferdinand IV, Francesco I and Ferdinado II also with Queen Maria Theresa.
The central hall is called the Nelson Hall to commemorate the British admiral's stop in 1797 at the palace en route to Abukir.
Victorious over Napoleon he returned to the Beneventan Palace in 1800.
The current owner, Baron Peter is a knight of Malta and, during the festivities of the Syracusan patron St. Lucia, afficks the flag of the order on the central balcony.
The building then became the palace of the city Senate and the city government to this day, home to the offices of the Mayor and the town hall.
An expression of the geometricism that animates all the realizations of Giovanni Vermexio, it was, originally, a perfect cube, divided in half height, by a long balcony that separates, even stylistically, the two orders: the lower Renaissance, the upper Baroque.
In the left corner of the ledge of the building, the architect Vermexio almost wanted to "sign" it, carved there a tiny gecko (called in Syracuse dialect scuppiuni) or lizard: epithet bestowed on the architect because of its rare thinness and height.
Inside the atrium is parked the 18th century carriage (1763) of the Senate, made on the model of the Austrian sedans.
The palace contains notable remains of an Ionic temple from the 6th century BC.
The Archbishopric
The brow on the Cathedral Square testifies the building was wanted by Bishop Giovanni Torres and built in 1618, as the inscription along the architrave, as well as the coat of arms.
The architect Andrea Vermexio was the author of the structure on the square, but the elevation is from 1751 by engineer Luigi Dumontier.
Notable is the viridarium – a hanging garden with lemon trees that was for the prelates' use. The plants today face off with their verdant fronds and golden yellow fruits from the balustrade on the beautiful Cathedral Square.
The vestibule is from the 18th century and Roman marble columns probably from the Roman forum were repurposed for its creation.
On the three courtyards there are buildings of the eighteenth century which hid medieval masonry that came to light during recent restoration work. In the first courtyard is the so-called swabian chapel, which was built on the 13th-century .
The Archbishop's Palace is home to the Archbishop's Curia of Syracuse, the New Seminary and the prestigious Alagonian Library. Its foundation is due to Mons. Giovanni Battista Alagona, Bishop of Syracuse from 1773 to 1801.
The Archbishopric
The book collection it contains is of extraordinary value. There is an exceptional collection of philosophical, theological, literary and historical publications on Sicily and Syracuse in particular. It houses 70 manuscripts, 37,058 volumes, 20 periodicals and 450 editions of the 16th century.
There are as well 21 precious Greek, Latin and Arabic codes. A Bible in Gothic characters and a commented Qur'an represent real book rarities.
The collection of 60 incunabula from the 15th to 16th centuries, among the oldest printed editions, is a valuable one. The reading room is from the 17th century and consists of the wooden cladding of the walls equipped with shelves superimposed in two orders and the coffered ceiling.
As part of the Alagonian Library, cultural initiatives were established such as the Georgian-ecclesiastical Academy of Logoteta, the Medals collection of the canonical Lentinello and the canonical librarian.
Among the distinguished visitors to the Library, Horatio Nelson, who stayed in Syracuse in 1797 and 1800, during the expedition to Abukir against Napoleon.
The entire precious library collection, being owned by the bishops, remained, fortunately, exempt from the confiscation of the ecclesiastical goods carried out in 1866 by the Liberals after the Unity of Italy. The Library can be visited.
Palazzo Borgia del Casale
Along Pompeo Picherali street the Palazzo Borgia del Casale shows its nice barocco. It was wanted in the late 18th century by Baron Giuseppe Maria Borgia of the feud Casale-Bonfalà.
The family includes the famous Syracusan Duchess Lucia Migliaccio (family of medieval origins), who saw the births right within the walls of the palace and of which he fell madly in love Ferdinand IV of Bourbon. His mother was Dorotea Borgia.
The prospectus of Palazzo Borgia is set along the Picherali street, also embracing the southern corner of Piazza Duomo, on which falls an elegant angular balcony. The front of the building is imposed for its pompeian red, but suffers from remakes that occurred in the twentieth century. The entrance portal opens onto a large extraordinary internal court.
The main floor is characterized by the typical Baroque balconies with a belly railing. Stylish small balconies open in the third order of the facade. The main floor, restored in 2009, is organized with rooms arranged for enfilade, that is, aligned one after the other without a corridor, and consists of several salons.
The one said of the "coat" where the emblem of the house is frescoed on a wall, the Salon of travelers with the wall views on the over-doors, the Hall of Arts and Crafts depicted both in the vault and in the over-doors, the Salon of Love and Psyche, whose love story is depicted in the vault.
The Palace is used as a cultural container and you can visit it.
☆ 4.3/5 €5 adults / .€0 less than 11 y.o. .
☞ Info and schedules here.
Built by Bishop Paolo Faraone (1619-1629), the cistern played an essential role not only for the water supply of the Archbishop's Palace, but for the entire Ortigia.
A first core of galleries is linked to the presence of a previous quarry located in Piazza Duomo and remembered in the 18th century because, from it, the stone had been drawn for the construction of the cathedral facade.
The war events linked to World War II brought attention to the underground rooms identified in the previous century. In view of the entry into the war of Italy, were prepared by the City Committee of the U.M.P.A. (Military Anti-aircraft Protection Union) collection points for the civilian population in case of attack.
To prepare the anti-aircraft shelter of Piazza Duomo were called teams of "pirriers" with the task of expanding the ancient quarry, digging a room where to store in zinc crates the simulacrum of St. Lucia, hidden since December 1942 with the treasure.
Train station
Going through the arid Sicilian landscapes of summer and lush in winter, with the relaxed timing of a train traveling at 70-90km/h and with the 70s-80s carriages, definitely has the taste of a retro trip suitable for those who live the trip as an experience and not as a means to reach the goal.
Unlike the Buses the train is more punctual, the air conditioning is the prerogative of the 1st class, since it is a regional train it makes all the intermediate stops.
Sicily is served only by REGIONAL trains, for all times see the website ☞ Trenitalia Regionals
A couple of times a year a special train called "the Baroque train" tours the cities of Syracuse, Ragusa, Noto, Scicli and Modica sites awarded by Unesco as "World Heritage" .
In order to have certain information about this, you must go to the station during business hours.
It is during this violent jolt that the cyclops columns undergo a strong displacement that determines the overhang with very serious static consequences.
In this way, in order to avoid the probable collapse, they were closed between new bastion walls, from which even today we see the silhouette of the capitals.
The Renaissance is reflected only on the outside, in the door and in the windows of the sacristy wall, with a reference to classical forms.
But it is following the more serious and catastrophic earthquake of 1693 that the cathedral comes out profoundly transformed in its basilica structure.
With the destruction of the southern and central apse the Greek temple and the Byzantine basilica suffer a more serious deformation with the creation and opening of several chapels, including the one dedicated to Saint Lucy, on the right aisle.
The reconstruction is pervaded by a tumultuous baroque that largely erases the austere basilica character by disappearing under the stucco stone the large Doric columns, the walls of the cell and the remains of the subsequent Byzantine-Norman transformations.
Gorgon found during the excavations of the temple of Athena, housed at P. Orsi. museum .
It had snakes nestled in its hair, teeth like fangs of boar, bronze hands and wings.
He also had the power to turn men and gods into stone with his eyes; except for Poseidon with whom he conceived Pegasus and Crisaore.
The two rococo-style side columns seem twisted on themselves; they support a crenellated mensolon placed above the Corinthian-style capitals.
Enclosed at the top of the portal is a semi-circular tympanum. The portal is made of wood; austere, simple, with large carved squares inside.
It seems to form almost a church itself, where there are several funerary monuments of the bishops of Syracuse, lived through the centuries
Of particular interest, in the middle, on the side altars on the right and left , two plates attributed to the painter Antonello da Messina that represent St. Zosimo and St. Marciano, bishops of Syracuse.
On the altar a nice large wooden cross, in byzantine style, survived to the earthquakes.
The polygonal building dates back to the first half of the seventeenth century, work of architect G. Vermexio, with a baroque address and a measured balance in the marbles polychrome use, including an antependium of Filippo Valle (executed in Rome in 1762) representing the last supper;
Gorgeus the richness of the ciborium of L. Vanvitelli (1752) with the shapes of a small temple and a central plan;
marvelous the frescoes of the ceiling of Agostino Scilla (1657) from Messina, reproducing subjects of the Old Testament.
The building represents one of the most significant examples of Gothic-Chiaramontana achitecture and, at the same time, Aragonese-Catalan architecture of the city and, at least in the prospectus, has maintained the original structure.
Located above the portal, inside a newsstand decorated in Gothic style, it is possible to read the inscription in Latin that mentions the noble Mergulese as the promoter of the construction of the palace in 1397.
We know that the Mergulese house later passed to the Montalto family.
The existence of the palace in the Spirduta district testifies to the significant construction of domus magnae between the 14th and 15th centuries, a century of clear Aragonese-Catalan inspiration and that Aragonese phase that involved all the urban fabric of Ortigia.
The cladding of the facade consists of limestone tans.
Notable traces of subsequent remakes. The entrance portal is framed by a series of fan-arranged blocks, tied together by a cordoned-off arch ending with two turns to the extreme parts inscribed in a circle pattern.
The main floor is marked by the plan line, characterized by a garnish of decorated pawns and emphasizes the compositional richness of the windows above:
a single-hole (which became such at a later stage), a three-light window and a two-light window.
In the background of the central window is located the star of David (the Montalto family would be of Jewish origin) , in the left one a quadrilobate tunnel, in the right one a cruciform pattern.
The house Mergulese-Montalto is configured just as a large housing unit in the modest neighborhood that was the Jewish dyers.
Located between the districts Mastra Rua dei Catalani and the Turba, it was a logistical point of meeting and trading, symbolically representing the emergence of the new bourgeois class.
The symbolism of the decorative elements of the windows, star of David, quadrilobe and cross, could indicate the opening of the owner to all components, even religious, of the Syracuse of the time.
The palace can be visited
only from the outside
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Ortigia's fortification
It was declared of historical and artistic interest in 1958 and was part of the medieval defensive system along with the "Eagle Gate" demolished after the Unification of Italy.
Ortigia, equipped since the Greek period, will undergo the transformation into a military citadel under Spanish rule and, by 1575, belongs the adjustment of the pre-existing defensive curtain.
The Porta Marina, in beautiful aragonese-catalan style, is from the fifteenth century, as documented by the walling technique in well-squared concies - on some of which you can see beautiful carvings of boats - and the ancient coat of arms of the city with the castle placed at the base of the newsstand. This element is a jewel of Aragonese sculpture with framed molding with plant shaped and geometric patterns that reproduce the star of David inscribed in a circle.
The shelves of the balcony served the throttles from which hot oil and molten oil were poured on any enemies. In the 16th century, the "New Sea Gate" was built, perpendicular to the Marina, with an opening oriented towards the port.
Traces of its demolition, which took place in 1880 , remain in the cantonal of the Aragonese gate. An epigraph in the back prospectus of the Marina Gate bears the date of 1599 that might suggest its construction under Philip III. The structure of the artifact is at the end of this chronology.
1599 can be interpreted as the year of completion of the works that gave a new face to the fortifications designed for the introduction of artillery. The passing of time and neglect had determined the strong state of degradation of the Marina Gate. The gate was restored in 1999 under the direction of the Arch. Corrado Pope.
7 Monumental garden
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The Garden
The plants are the Ficus macrophylla subsp.
Columnaris or Ficus magnolioides as well as "stranglers" (not to be confused with the magnolia - Magnolia grandeflora) that form a small jungle in the city with their twisting branches and lianas.
These Ficus are centenarians like the Ficus Retusa that shade the Marina of Syracuse (Italic forum).
In this real green paradise there is also a Araucaria heterophilla and a washington palm tree.
The trunk of the Plane tree has a diameter of 4 meters (5 meters at the base) and a height of 10 meters.
Three hundred would be his years according to the card drawn up by Fabio Morreale ("Monumental Trees of Sicily", 2007). Araucaria Heterophilla
The three-hundred-year-old Plane tree is therefore pre-existing to the upheavals made by the will of the liberal government when, in the nineteenth century, when lowered the wall share of the Spanish fortifications, the Italic Forum was established.
The arboreal heritage of this Ortigian space draws the roots in the Aretusa aquifer, where dwells the very rare papyrus.
Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807 – 1882) general, patriot, leader and Italian writer landed in Sicily, in Marsala, on May 11, 1860 during unification of Italy
The story also featured the ships of the two Sicilie Sea Army and two British Royal Navy warships.
The garibaldini troop, aboard the "Piemonte" and "Lombardo" steamships, departed from Quarto near Genoa, with the support of the Italian liberal forces and the Savoy monarchy, after more than five days of sailing, entered the Marsala's waters and managed, despite the Bourbon intervention, to complete the landing and to take the city, starting a sequence of battles and uprisings in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies that led to its end.
"And what good is it for Italy to have beautiful ports and free lands, when its governments at least think of making money to feed the privileged classes, and to force with strength, cunning and betrayal to misery and dishonour the hardworking classes?"
The Marina of Syracuse
The port is a large natural gulf located within the bay of Syracuse, which is formed to the west by the tip of the island of Ortigia and to the east by the rocky offshoots of "Punta Castelluccio".
Castle Maniace dominates its northern mouth.
Inside the port, the Anapo River overflows, generating a constant current of water.
Due to its circular shape, some scholars have speculated that it may be a volcanic crater.
Memorable events have taken place in the vast natural bay of Syracuse, including naval battles of extraordinary importance, with an unspecified number of ships set on fire and sunk.
The Syracuse sailing tradition
The city of Syracuse has always been a sailing hub, in fact there are several regattas that take place every year, among them the most important:
The international regatta Syracuse-Malta is the most prestigious regatta that takes place at the port of Syracuse, as it is the oldest, born in 1952. About 100 yachts take part, departing from Valletta in the even years and leaving Syracuse in odd years.
The Wine Route: Marzamemi – Syracuse – Riposto; it changes its order in the odd years ,the route touches areas famous for centuries for their wine culture.
The Odyssail Regatta - on the route of Ulysses, departs from Sardinia and crosses the main mediterranean ports and then reaches the finish line in Athens, passing through: Spain, Italy (with landing in the ports of Venice, Brindisi, Naples, Syracuse, Trapani and Carloforte), Israel, Yugoslavia, Libya, Greece
- Everyone stand alone on the heart of the earth
- pierced by a ray of the sun’s light:
- and suddenly it’s evening..
This short poem expresses, with extreme effectiveness, in its essentiality, the human condition made of solitude (Everyone is alone), pain of living and brevity of existence (and it is immediately evening).
Every human being lives in solitude, deluding himself of being at the center of the world with a strong sense of rooting to existence (on the heart of the earth), and he is pierced by sunlight, the cycle of existence, a source of joy and pain at the same time. Then the evening suddenly falls, symbolizes the brevity of human life, the fleetingness of time and the sudden onset of death.
This is a masterpiece in the italian literature, the poet shows us in just three verses the human condition with a lot of meanings and deep themes; it gave the title to an entire collection.
8 Promenade Alpheus
Don't miss the spectacular sunset between a well frozen glass of sparkling Moscato wine produced in Syracuse and an italian poem.
An island, Ortigia lies
on the misty ocean opposit to
Trinacria, where the mouth of Alpheus
bubbling mixing with the springs
of Arethusa
But the lover recognizes the coveted waters and, deposed the human semblance before assumed, turns back into his own waters in order to be able to mingle with those of his beloved (Ovid, Metamorphosis, V. 636-638).
The Scenography
Aretusa, an attractive nymph unaware of her seductive nudity, tries to refresh herself from the toils of hunting in the cozy and transparent waters of a river where, suddenly, a tremor assails her...
Fear then prompts her to undertake an impossible escape from Alpheus, the god of the river in whose waters she is refreshing, who so seduced by the virgin desires to possess her at any cost.
But Aretusa, who cannot yield to this ardent desire, can escape the pursuit of the god thanks to (or at the price of) a metamorphosis provoked by the intervention of Artemis, to whom the nymph, on the verge of succumbing, appeals.
Prof. Rosalba Galvagno (Source: www.analisiqualitativa.com)
Pistrixs and Tritons
The Tritons lived together with Poseidon and Amphitrite in a gilded palace at the bottom of the sea, they were the servants of the marine deities wich they carried on their backs or on wagons pulled by themselves. They were under Poseidon's orders and could unleash or calm sea storms by playing a snail-shaped horn, made from a shell.
The Hippocampus
They are horses to the belly, and their body ends with a fish tail. They may have hooves or palmed legs, and instead of the mane there may be a membrane crest or algae.
The Mythological Goddess
As a goddess of "the bow and arrow" she represents the ability of women to achieve their goals, even through the use of the right aggression.
As Apollo was later identified with the Sun, artemis was identified with the Moon, revered under the three forms corresponding to the three lunar phases (Selene in the sky, Artemis on earth and Hecate in the underworld).
Artemis is the power of creation, it is invoked by the birthers to assure them of an easy birth or a quick death, women found relief in the belief that she assisted them. It represents the wild and hysteria side of childbirth and helps to free it.
It also represents the violent transition of the separation of the newborn from the uterus and the mother from the child that takes place at the time of childbirth.
It represents that particular confidence with the unconscious that women have with their "inner forest", that state of grace that makes them "virgin", one in itself, and the fury that women express and feel at the time of childbirth that makes them fearsome and venerable.
The Catalan Courtyard
The facade has an entrance arch closed by a beautiful wrought-iron gate, topped by a beautiful stone balcony with a mullioned window (architectural element in Renaissance style unchanged) above it the mechanical clock of the late 19th century.
Inside the building there is a small courtyard where we can admire the heraldic sculptures (including a rampant lion) and a catalan-style staircase, unchanged.
In Sicilian the term indicates not only the confused rumor of the sellers, but also the market itself from the French boucherie-butchery, its original destination.
And so it was disseminated to a much wider public this extraordinary historical heritage of Sicily through the raw realism of the meats depicted in the foreground, the intense colors of fruits, vegetables, fish above the counters so approached that they barely leave space to passers-by.
Guttuso's painting inspired famous sicilian writer A. Camilleri: "A narrator or a playwright, in front of the Vucciria, would have writing material until the end of their days". In fact, the Vucciria, Ballarò in Palermo, the Fera o Luni and the Fishmonger in Catania, but also the Piscarìa of Syracuse represent, as well as a destination of citizens in search of fresh goods and moderate prices, "fatal" attraction for tourists especially foreigners!
They find themselves as enchanting in the middle of a real theatrical action where the actors, the sellers, advertise their goods with the most singular ways and expressions.
The historic market becomes an extraordinary place for a guided tour of the history of Sicily through food, where all the senses are stimulated in a triumph of colors and smells.
The Mattanza
A singular anthropological fact: a barrage of Sicilians and tourists who, fascinated by the unusual spectacle, moves by filming with their cameras sales desks and sellers.
Founded in the fishing district, the Graziella (from Santa Maria of all Graces, their protector), has as a scenic backdrop the entire architectural front of the neighborhood.
Sicily, "market land" since the Neolithic period, has seen the birth of primordial urban systems characterized by real emporiums, the Agora in the Greek period, the Forum in the Roman period and, thanks to the exchange of goods, has given birth to the civilization of the West.
As A. Buttitta (anthropologist) writes, "Exchanging material goods also means exchanging intangibles: words and ideas, traditions and customs, what we call culture." Inside the Market you can then experience street food in several qualified food outlets.
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Why to visit it: it is the oldest known Doric temple in Western Europe, as well as home to the sun god, protector of all arts, music and prophecy, proven archer, able to inflict, with his weapon, terrible pestilences to those who oppose him...
It may be time to start the practice of "Greeting to the Sun", not only to greet the new day, but above all to greet the sun that lives inside us, our vital energy.
ULYSSES AND HIS COMPANIONS LANDED ON THE ISLAND OF THE SUN, THE HERO,
VERY TIRED, FELL ASLEEP. ON THE ISLAND THEY GRAZED COWS
SACRED TO THE GOD APOLLO AND THAT'S WHY THEY COULDN'T TOUCH IT. (Odyssey , Book X)
Then the Arabs made it their mosque as evidenced by an Arabic epigraph lying on the south side. And again, it was once again a Christian church in the Norman period, as evidenced by the archacuta gate – the ancient entrance of the church – which is still visible today with its picturesque perspective on Ortigia's Market .
In the 1500s, during the fortification of Charles V, a spanish barracks was built on the ruins of the temple (the so-called Old Quarter). Today the building is in ruins, but its imposing size is still evident - 58 x 24 meters (190x78 feets) it occupies much of Pancali Square.
A creepy and
virtuous God
Apollo, son of Zeus and Leto, artemis's twin is the summer sun god whose scorching rays dry the vegetation; hence the ancient conception of Apollo, evil deity, executor of revenge. Divinity of medicine, mantic, cathartic, agriculture, but mainly god of poetry and as such surrounded by the 9 Muses who dance and sing in choir in his honor.
Detail of "Apollo of the Belvedere", Roman copy of hellenistic age (350 BC), Vatican Museums.
Apollo, also called "Phoebus", shiny, radiant, is the identification to the world of Light and all-encompassing lighting related to the sun's rays.
As with the other great deities, Apollo loved many women including Daphne and also the two young men Hyacinth and Cyparissus. Apollo had many children, perhaps the most famous being Orpheus, who inherited his father's musical abilities and became a virtuoso with the lyre, and Asclepius, to whom he gave his knowledge of healing and medicine.
Its typical attributes are the bow, with its portentous arrows, and the cithern. Another characteristic emblem is the sacrificial tripod, a symbol of his prophetic powers.
Sacred animals to the god are swans (symbol of beauty), wolves, cicadas (to symbolize music and singing), and again the hawks, crows, dolphins, in which often the god loved to transform, and snakes, the latter with reference to his orcular powers.
And again the rooster, as a symbol of homosexual love, different in fact the men of whom the God fell in love. Another symbol of Apollo is the Griffon, a mythological animal of distant Eastern origin.
The dedication
"Kleomede made for Apollo the temple, the son of Knidieidas, and raised the colonnades, beautiful works"
gives us the amazement of the builders themselves, who built a building with 46 monolithic columns, probably transporting them by sea.
Reconstruction of the temple
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The Greeks were one of the greatest peoples for laying the foundations for a real "metaphysics of light", that is, a rapid and teeming speculation around the founding principles of Light that showed itself in its many aspects: the Light as a mother and dispenser of life and health, as the winner of the evil and darkness that enveloped the life of men , as a risky source of the being of the cosmos and the universe." (Source: culturificio.org - Gianmarco Canestrari)
In addition to paying homage to the sun, a source of life and energy, greeting the sun is a way to awaken the receptivity of our body, "raise" the mind and generate a source of energy directly from the sun. This is why it is performed mainly in the morning, especially at dawn, when the air is pregnant of vital energy, turning eastwards.
For those who want to take advantage of the energy present in this area can go to the bastion San Giovannello, overlooking the sea of the east and in the air line right forward the entrance of the temple; alternatively another convenient area is the wide clearing above the Talete car park, beside the bastion.
To reach both places take the Apollonion route (next to the temple) and continue on via Resalibera; arrived at the end turn left on via V. Veneto and immediately to the right to get to the sea. Once on the promenade, head to the left where to your right you will find first the fort and then the Talete.
The sacrificial animals were carried in procession by players, children and maidens in white and garlanded dresses of flowers, until the temple, where the priest among wine libations, prayers, purifying rites, incense and scents of all kinds, to the sound of the flute and lyre poured on the head of the victim honey wine and lustral water, raised prayers of thanks, praise or supplication to the divinity, and then slaughtered the victim.
The sacrificed was cut into pieces and thrown on the sacred fire. Banquets followed in which the faithful ate the flesh of the sacrificed animal: during such banquets, it was also believed that the deity was even participating as a guest of honor.
The Muses, deities, were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosine (the "Memory") and represented the supreme ideal of Art. Their guide was Apollo.
The typical trait of the Muses is that of deities of singing and playful dances, and in such capacity are often represented in poetry while putting in music and verse stories such as the origin of the world, the birth of gods and men, the exploits of Zeus. In the oldest representations, related to vascular painting, they appear as accompanied by the various instruments.
Only later, in addition to the joy of dance, singing and music, were all the singing and musical expressions, including sad and funeral expressions, associated with them, so that they could be invoked individually to exercise their inspiration and protection.
The nine Muses according to the order of Hesiodo described in the Theogony :
I Clio: "she who makes famous", the muse of History and epic singing.
II Euterpe:"she who cheers", the muse of lyrical poetry and music.
III Thalia: "she who is festive", the muse of comedy.
IV Melpomene: "she who sings", the muse of Tragedy, in close relations with Dionysus.
V Terpsichore: "she who delights in dance", the muse of Dance and Choral lyric.
VI Erato: "she who causes desire", the muse of Love Poetry, choral singing, mimicry and geometry.
VII Polyhymnia: "she who has many hymns", the muse of Mimo, sacred singing and ritual dance. She is also associated with rhetoric, memory, history and geometry.
VIII Urania: "she who is celestial", the muse of astronomy, geometry and didactic epic.
IX Calliope: "she who has a beautiful voice", the muse of Elegy and epic poetry. She is Homer's inspiration for the Odyssey and the Iliad, and Dante's inspiration for the Divine Comedy too. She is the greater of the muses and the wisest.
The church, which retains all the charm of Norman severity, has a single aisle with the door that opens on its side.
In 1093, the funeral of Jordan, the son of Ruggero d'Altavilla, was held there.
In the early Christian and Byzantine times the hypogeic environment was used as a church, while in more recent times (the 17th century) it was also a place of municipal burial.
Beneath it is the so-called Roman Pool, a large water tanks obtained by cutting the stone of the side.
These natural water pipes served the Syracusans in ancient Rome era to provide plenty of water to the amphitheatre, and may have been used to fill the Roman amphitheatre of Syracuse with water for aquatic struggles.
Roman swimming pool
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The Latomie
According to the ancient historians, the Latomìe were used as prison. . After the victory of Syracuse over the Athenian troops, the captured soldiers were locked up and left to die inside the quarries.
Here is the description of Tucidides:
"In the stone quarries the treatment imposed in the early days by the Syracusans was very harsh:
the crowd , crammed among the walls of that cramped quarry in the open air , in the beginning suffered the lash of the burning sun and the hot flashes that took the breath away.
Then on the contrary happened the cold autumn nights which with their passage of climate caused new exhaustion and more serious ailments.
For narrowness of space they were obliged to meet their needs in that same quarry bottom,
Moreover the piles of corpses growing up there thrown in bulk on each other, those who bled out of the sores, those crushed by the swings of the season, those killed by other such causes, spread an intolerable stench.
And they were plagued by the torment of hunger and thirst
(since in the first eight months the Syracusans threw them a bowl of water and two of wheat as a daily ration each).
To conclude, no respite was granted to them from any of the sufferings to which people buried in such a chasm go.
For about seventy days they were in that frightful crush.
Then, excluding the Athenian and the Siceliote troops who had direct responsibility for the expedition,all the others ended up on the slave market.
The Rope-makers cave
It is still covered and, thanks to its depth and the presence of water , was a perfect place for the art of rope making.
The vault is still supported by pillars shaped by the stone cutters and huge well-squared blocks can be seen hanging from the ceiling like enormous stalactites
The Ear of Dionysius
He was hosted by his friend Mario Minniti, a Syracusan painter who had worked with him in Rome. Minniti obtained the contract for The Burial of Saint Lucia for Caravaggio and also introduced him to an excellent guide for a private tour of the archaeological sites of Siracusa :
Vincenzo Mirabella, a well-known archaeologist of the time.
Mirabella led the artist to the historical places of Syracuse, including the Latomia del Paradiso,
When Caravaggio, a connoisseur of human anatomy, found himself in front of this cavern, its unusual and sinuous shape combined with its acoustic properties, brought the image of the human ear canal to his mind.
Caravaggio heard from Mirabella about the use of the quarries as prisons and the legend about the tyrant Dionysius of Syracuse who reigned between the 5th and 4th C. B.C.
The archaeologist Mirabella recounted the stories told by Cicero concerning Dionysius’ paranoia.
The tyrant was so bad, cruel and bloodthirsty that he did not trust anyone.
For example, his slaves had to taste his meals before he ate so as to avoid being poisoned and he trained his daughters to shave his beard for fear of having his throat cut by a barber ⤏
Although this empire was technically a constitutional republic, in fact it was the first Greek empire which was in effect a monarchy; in this, Dionysius foreshadowed the accomplishments of Alexander the Great and beyond him of Augustus.
He also foreshadowed these later rulers in being one of the first Greek rulers to be given divine honors during his lifetime, and he made innovations in military technique, such as siege engines, which became a standard feature of warfare under Alexander the Great and later generals.
The Sword of Damocles
Sword of Damocles by Richard Westall ,1812
According to the story, Damocles was pandering to Dionysius, his king, and exclaimed to him that Dionysius was truly fortunate as a great man of power and authority, surrounded by magnificence.
In response, Dionysius offered to switch places with Damocles for one day so that Damocles could taste that very fortune firsthand.
Damocles quickly and eagerly accepted the king's proposal.
Damocles sat down in the king's throne surrounded by every luxury, but Dionysius, who had made many enemies during his reign, arranged that a huge sword should hang above the throne, held at the pommel only by a single hair of a horse's tail to evoke the sense of what it is like to be king:
Though having much fortune, always having to watch in fear and anxiety against dangers that might try to overtake him.
Damocles finally begged the king that he be allowed to depart because he no longer wanted to be so fortunate, realizing that with great fortune and power comes also great danger. Source: wikipedia.org
Damon and Pythias
In the 4th century B.C., Damon and Pythias, two dear friends and followers of the philosopher Pythagoras, travel to Syracuse;
here, Pythias disputes the tyrannical rule of Dionysius the Younger, and is then sentenced to death.
Accepting his sentence, Pythias asked to be allowed to return home one last time to settle his affairs and bid his family farewell.
Not wanting to be taken for a fool, the king refused, believing that, once released, Pythias would flee and never return. Damon offered himself as a hostage in Pythias' absence, and when the king insisted that, should Pythias not return by an appointed time, Damon would be executed in his stead, Damon agreed and Pythias was released.
Dionysius was convinced that Pythias would never return, and as the day Pythias promised to return came and went, he called for Damon's execution—but just as the executioner was about to kill Damon, Pythias returned.
Apologizing to his friend for the delay, Pythias explained that on the passage back to Syracuse pirates had captured his ship and thrown him overboard, but that he swam to shore and made his way back to Syracuse as quickly as possible, arriving just in time to save his friend.
So astonished by and pleased with their friendship, Dionysius pardoned both men. It was also said that the tyrant then sought to become their third friend.
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Source: wikipedia.org
Spartan delicacy
The black broth was the most representative dish of the Spartan cuisine.
As the Syracusan tyrant knew how proud his Peloponnesian allies were about their culinary specialty, one day Dionysius wanted to taste it.
So he called a Spartan chef at his court to have it prepared.
As soon as he brought a spoonful to his mouth, Dionysius pushed it away and showed his disappointment to the Spartan cook behind the stove;
the latter candidly replied that he could not fully appreciate that dish without bathing in the Eurota river first, hunting and suffering from thirst and hunger as all Spartans often do with enthusiasm .
The Syracusan cuisine was too elaborate and comfortable, as Plato defined it, to enjoy the simple and poor dishes of the heroic Greek tradition .
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Plato and Dionysius
Dionysius is also remembered for his famous attempt to sell Plato as a slave after meeting him several times .
Survived to this misadventure with the help of Archythas, a friend with both of them, Plato returned to Athens. He received a letter from Dionysius where he asked him not to speak badly about him.
Diogenes Laertius refers about the dialogue occurred between them :
“ About tyrannies, Plato claimed that the right of the strongest was valid only if he had also excelled in virtues .
The tyrant was offended and angrily exclaimed : “ Your words are worthy of an old person” . Plato replied: “but yours are words of a tyrant“
Dionysius once said to Plato he would have cut off his head, Xenocrates, who was present, replied: “No one will slit Plato’s throat before they cut mine”
The bees and the horse
Cicero tells that when Dionysius was not yet in command, one day he had an accident on horseback ;
He could not emerge from the mud in which they both had ended up so after various efforts, he abandoned the animal.
On his way he heard a whimper and turning around he saw his horse coming vigorous and surrounded by a swarm of bees on its mane.
Bees represented his fortune. Infact shortly after his reign began.
Claudio Eliano adds that when he mounted his horse, the bees crowned over his hand: a sign they interpreted as an imminent rise to power.
He would soon become an absolute monarch.
After the main entrance, at the first junction we find on the left the observation shed overlooking the [1] old salt pans now abandoned that host different species of birds both migratory and sedentary. If equipped with binoculars it is possible to observe different species of birds including pink flamingos.
Back at the junction continue along the path that arrives at the main intersection: in front of you the access to the beach of Vendicari where you can swim with a view of the Tonnara, on the right the path 2, on the left the path of the Tonnara.
Continuing along the path that leads us to the suggestive ruins of the [2]Tonnara, we have on our left the Pantano Grande, a freshwater basin very important for the coexistence and refreshment of many species, which make the ecosystem rich and lively.
After the Tonnara we meet the [3]Swabian Watchtower and the [4] Hellenistic tanks , cavities dug directly into the rocks for different uses, including that of fish preparation and "garum" fish-based seasoning.
We can only vaguely imagine the appearance of the place in the Greco-Roman age. We can certainly understand the reasons why this place has never ceased to be enormously fascinating for man.
Continuing our walk we skirt on one side still the rich and wide Big Quagmire up to Pantano Piccolo and on the other the rocky coast of the sea that accompanies us throughout this stretch, giving us a vast and rich panorama where we can be lucky enough to look at birds or other animals in their habitat.
We arrive at the famous [5] Calamosche Beach , characteristic for being a sandy basin closed by the rocky coast. Mixing, the coast and sand, the coast is enriched with marine species that we can admire by diving. A perfect place for snorkeling.
We continue our walk to the nudist beach of [6] Marianelli going up the rocky shore opposite to the one from which we descended to reach the Calamosche Beach.
Reached the Marianelli beach, continuing our itinerary you have to overcome the lower mouth of the river Tellaro to reach the beach [7]Eloro-Tellaro , where the presence of fresh water increases the environmental value of the place. Here it will be possible to see parts of the walls and architecture of the ancient Greek city of Eloros, currently closed to visitors.
On the promontory there are the remains of the ancient Syracusan colony [8]Heloros , to reach it you have to leave the reserve and follow the dirt path always keeping to the right.
Beyond the promontory is the beach of [9]Eloro-Pizzuta , to reach it you have to leave the reserve and follow the dirt path always keeping to the right.
Finally the [10] Pizzuta Column , a monument dating back to the Greek period can be reached from the main road.
The first information about the existence of the salt pans of Vendicari date back to the fifteenth century, probably the area of the marsh was used even in Greek times, since nearby there are remains of tanks for the processing of salted fish.
The salt pans were an important resource for the area, they fed the salt market that was transported by sailing boats "varchi 'i sali".
The work of the salt pans was typically seasonal from March to August. A typical day of the salt workers began in the morning at dawn and continued until 11:00, thus avoiding the scorching midday heat. He resumed work in the early afternoon until around 5:00 p.m.
The salt pans were closed in 1951 following a flood that had caused much damage to the area. Today the salt pans are used by birds as an oasis of refreshment and are one of the most important attractions of the reserve.
A wonder to visit dating back to the eighteenth century, is the Tonnara di Vendicari: also called Bafutu.
The construction of the Tonnara dates back to the eighteenth century, the activity developed thanks to the presence of the nearby salt pans that allowed the extraction of salt; The tuna was caught in the waters in front and transported to the balata where it was cut and processed, then in the actual plant the tuna was cooked in the ovens and canned.
The activity of the plant has had alternating phases, flourishing periods to periods of closure based on the cost of the product and the competition of the nearby traps of Marzamemi, Avola, Noto and Syracuse.
In 1943, following the landing of the Allies, but also due to a poor economic yield of the tuna trade, the plant was closed.
Today it remains a testimony of the ancient Sicilian tradition of tuna traps.
In 1970 Vendicari risked becoming an industrial area, fortunately the monstrous project failed.
Dating back to medieval times, the Swabian Tower was most likely built by Peter of Aragon, Count of Alburquerque and Duke of Noto (1406-1438) to signal and repel the attacks of Saracen and Barbareschi pirates.
The date of foundation of this tower remains uncertain. The oldest source that mentions the existence of the building is by Tommaso Fazello, a Sicilian historian, who indicated the construction of the tower precisely at the behest of Pietro D'Aragona.
The construction of this tower was necessary to guard and defend the loaders the warehouses where foodstuffs were stored for trade; the area that corresponds to the current Vendicari reserve, in fact, has presumably been a port center for rural communities since late antiquity. This ancient commercial function has been prolonged over time, as evidenced by a document of 1396, which grants the city of noto the commercial activity through the Vendicari airport.
The military activity of the Swabian Tower, despite the collapses and alterations that have occurred since the sixteenth century and the devastating earthquake of 1693 that seriously damaged it, officially continued until 1867, when the Italian government counted it among the military buildings to be abandoned due to ceased functionality.
Compared to the original structure, the tower today appears almost halved in height due to the lack of the top floor (present only in the north wall), the vaults of roofs and the terrace.
On the north-east side there is one of the entrances, a rectangular door with a massive monolithic architrave. In this prospectus we can see on the floor one of the original windows of the structure.
On the tops of the south and west corners, there are corbels dating back to the sixteenth century, which served as a support to large balconies that housed lookouts, cannons and garrisons in countershoe.
In the north-east façade, at a height of 5 meters, we can see an arched door with a slightly lowered sixth, visibly "recessed" with respect to the façade. This was the entrance to the drawbridge.
After passing the Swabian tower you reach the storage tanks of an ancient hellenistic establishment used for the processing of tuna and the production of garum; next to the tanks was also discovered a small necropolis.
Garum is a liquid sauce of fish entrails and salted fish that the ancient Greeks added as a condiment to many first and second courses.
Garum derived from the Greek name garos or garon (γάρον), which was the name of the fish whose intestines were originally used in the production of condiments. It is thought that the Garum was similar to the anchovy paste or the liquid of the brine of salted anchovies, which on the Amalfi coast and in particular in Cetara can be enjoyed even today with the name of "colatura".
In the Geoponiche, of unknown author and era, we read: "The so-called 'liquamen' is produced as follows: pour into a container the entrails of the fish and then salt; pour small fish, especially dairy, or small red mullet, or menole, or anchovies, or whatever small fish there is, all to be salted equally, to be left to mature in the sun and turn constantly.
After they have seasoned in the heat, the garum is drawn from them; a large basket is inserted into the full cavity of the above small fish: the garum will flow into the basket; what is poured through it, called "liquamen", will be collected.
Some also add two sextarians of old wine for each fish sextary. If you need to use the garum immediately, do not keep it so much in the sun, but boil it, doing so:
take the brine so concentrated that an egg can float there (if it sinks there is not enough salt), place the fish in it in another pot, add oregano and put it on the fire until boiling, that is, until it has reduced enough volume. Once cooled, place in a sieve a second and a third time, until it is clear. After putting the lid on, put it back on.
The flower of the garum, however, called aimàtion (from the Greek αἰμάτιον, "blood, blood"), is obtained as follows: take the entrails of the tuna together with the gills, the serum and the blood, on top spread salt and macerate for two months. The container is then perforated, the garum called aimation will come out of it".
Probably the most famous of the beaches of Vendicari is Calamosche, a ravine of extreme beauty destination of many of the tourists who visit this part of Sicily, a masterpiece of mother nature.
For those wishing to reach the beach of Calamosche directly, the paid parking is 1.2 km away on foot. Click on the P to get the navigation directions. Parking 3,5-5 €/day; 9-19 ; 7/7. Admission 3,5 €.
🚍 Bus Noto-Lido di Noto. Bus Stop Hotel Helios, then hiking of 4 km you reach the beach of Pizzuta, Eloro, Marianelli and Calamosche.
Natural beach in the name of freedom is Marianelli, a splendid ravine destination for naturists who love nudism and gayfriendly beach.
The sand is always golden and the sea has an impeccable clarity.
Arriving by car, the car park is about 750 meters from the beach.
🚍 Bus Noto-Lido di Noto. Bus Stop Hotel Helios, then hiking 2.5 km on the sand you reach the beach of Pizzuta then Eloro and then Marianelli.
Attention: due to what has just been described, this particular destination lends itself to a narrow target of users and much less to families.
Continuing south on the paths above the dunes you reach the beautiful Calamosche at about 800 meters.
South of the archaeological park (Heloros) Eloro is the second of the 4 beautiful natural beaches that are located north of Vendicari, with soft golden sand is bordered by dunes and Mediterranean vegetation.
Crossing the river Tellaro, at the south end of the beach, beyond the promontory you arrive at the beach of Marianelli.
There are no structures inside, only nature.
By car you can park at about 300 meters. Admission 3.5€.
🚍 Bus Noto-Lido di Noto. Bus Stop Hotel Helios, then hiking 1.5 km you reach the beach of Pizzuta and then the beach Eloro.
It is a coastal city - along the Via Elorina - founded at the end of the seventh century BC.C., important because it represented the extension of the power of Syracuse to the south.
The city was always faithful to the motherland until the fall into Roman hands which however allowed its continuity and productivity until the dismantling and destruction in Arab times.
Further traces of the exploitation of the place are the presence of some latomie (stone quarries) of the fifth century BC.C used in the ancient Greek city, for the construction of temples and monuments, which later became catacombs in the early Christian era.
The city walls, dated to the sixth century BC.C. in their original phase, were later rebuilt over the remains of the oldest ones, perhaps in the second half of the fourth century BC.C.
The most important sanctuary was located outside the walls: it was dedicated to Demeter and Kore and perhaps takes up an older indigenous Sicilian cult. It was located outside the walls and consisted of several rooms.
The portico was also connected with the agora, of which only the cisterns dug into the rock to collect rainwater remain visible. From the square a street headed towards the sea to the south-east: together with another street in a north-south direction it defined the axes of the urban structure of the city.
A sanctuary perhaps dedicated to the god Asclepius, of the fourth century BC.C., consisted of a courtyard surrounded by arcades, where the sick stopped and slept waiting for the visit in a dream of the god, which would lead to healing.
Nearby there was a small thesauròs, that is a building in the shape of a small temple in antis, intended to house the votive offerings and dated to the second half of the fourth century.
To the south, on the slopes of the hill, there is a Greek theater, partly carved into the rock and partly built, dating back to the late fourth - early third century BC.C., partly affected by a reclamation canal built in the thirties.
To the north-west was the Pizzuta Column, a funerary monument, consisting of a colossal column in limestone rocchi (diameter of 3.80 m and height reconstructable in about 10 m). Nearby there is an hypogeum carved into the rock, datable to the second half of the third century BC.C., already seen in the excavations of Orsi in 1899 and subsequently reburied.
The last of the beautiful natural beaches of the Vendicari reserve on path 1, this beach was a place of parties and games of virility of the ancient inhabitants. The sea is clear blue and crystal clear, there are no equipped facilities, the beaches are connected by paths. This delightful place is ideal for nature lovers looking for peace and tranquility close to the sea, very popular on weekends in July and August.
NOTE: to reach the Eloro beach coming from the Tellaro beach you must leave the reserve and return later following the dirt road.
The parking area is free and is about 200 meters from the entrance of the beach.
🚍 Bus Noto-Lido di Noto. Bus Stop Hotel Helios, then hiking 1 km you reach the beach of Pizzuta.
The column can be reached from the main road
☞ (click here for directions)
is a short stop for a short path that takes us to the Pizzuta Column, a path to an isolated archaeological find in this pre-reserve agricultural area.
It is a column probably dating back to the third century BC.C. which apparently seemed to be part of a celebratory monument. Only in the inspections carried out by Paolo Orsi it emerged that in reality it is a commemorative funeral monument, under which a stuccoed hypogeum compartment was found and adorned with two warriors, one of whom was regent a shield adorned with stylistic features dating back to the time of Hieron II. From this the alleged dating was deduced.
The term Pizzuta is probably due to its emergence isolated from the surrounding environment, or probably to the precious type of almond that populates that area, called "pizzuta".
Damaged by the terrible earthquake of 1693, it was qualified as a valuable find and restored in 1793 at the behest of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, as reported by a marble plaque set in it.
Note: Those coming from Tellaro beach must go outside the reserve to reach the column.
The city of Syracuse was founded by Corinthian settlers led by the Oikistes Archia in 734 BC, in the 5th century BC Syracuse enjoyed a period of expansion and prosperity under the tyrant Gelone ,it played a key role in the field of literature, science and philosophy of the ancient world, it played a leading role in the policy of conquests including the halting of Carthaginian expansion with the victory of Himera in 480 BC, Syracuse survived a two-year siege of the Athenian forces from 415 to 413 BC and still prospered under the Tyrant Dionysius in the 4th century BC when the city controlled most part of south Italy. In the 6th century A.D. Syracuse became part of the Roman Empire of the East, in the 7th century A.D. it was designated the capital of the entire Byzantine Empire, a situation that culminated shortly after more than five years with the assassination of Emperor Constant II and the return of central power in Constantinople.
Apollo's Temple
The exceptionality of this temple is reiterated by the inscription dedicated to Apollo, engraved right on the stylobate of the eastern front (not visible from the square): in fact, no Greek temple has such dedications, so the engraving
"Kleomede made for Apollo the temple, the son of Knidieidas, and raised the colonnades, beautiful works"
gives us the amazement of the builders themselves, who built a building with 46 monolithic columns, probably transporting them by sea.
Reconstruction of the temple
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Constructive parts
It is the result from the transformation and readjustment to Christian worship of the ancient temple of Athena dates back to 5th century A.D.
This Cyclopean work, with its preservation which lives till today, may indicate the idea of the splendor reached by the greatest temple of the city in the period of architectural fervor that accompanied the famous victory brought by the tyranny of Gelon on the Carthaginians in the plans of Himera (480 BC)to thank the goddess of wisdom and war, Athena
According to the writer Athenaeum, along with the temple there was also a bronze shield, symbol of the goddess that served as a guide for sailors.These, once gone off to sea, used to throw wreaths in her honor. These, once gone off to sea, used to throw wreaths in her honor.
The temple, rich in gold and ivory decorations, precious canvases and marble, was built on a more ancient Sicilian religious building, then transformed in the VI century A.D. in Byzantine church, embracing the walls of the pagan temple in the sacred building. ⤏
The Greek Theater
Théatre de Syracuse, end sec. 18th
The Greek Theater started to spark interest since the 16th century, when it was used for the creation of several water mills, built under the Spanish domination.
In the 18th and 19th centuries it was the subject for the paintings of many foreigner travelers.
The first excavation essays were carried out in the mid-18th century and continued into the following century. The first excavation tests were carried out in the mid-eighteenth century until the following century.
The Greek Theater of Syracuse is one of the largest in the world.
The most striking thing is the technique used to build it: the cavea still visible today, was chiseled in the midst of the soft Miocene limestone along an ancient south-facing shore.
The construction, based on the project of the architect Damòkopos, was carried out by highly specialized workers by using hammer and chisel, creating that particular and intimate combination between natural and monumental elements, typical of Greek architecture.
The existence of a theater in Syracuse is already attested by the end of the 5th century BC by the mime author Sophron, who mentions the name of the architect Damòkopos, called "Myrilla" because he used to rub ointments, such as myrrh, at the inauguration of monuments as a good luck ritual.
Although this empire was technically a constitutional republic, in fact it was the first Greek empire which was in effect a monarchy; in this, Dionysius foreshadowed the accomplishments of Alexander the Great and beyond him of Augustus.
He also foreshadowed these later rulers in being one of the first Greek rulers to be given divine honors during his lifetime, and he made innovations in military technique, such as siege engines, which became a standard feature of warfare under Alexander the Great and later generals.
ATHEN BESIEGES SYRACUSE 415 BC The Athenian expedition against Syracuse departed in 415 BC inspired by the idea that capturing Syracuse could bring dominion to Sicily and provide the resources Athens needed to win the long war against Sparta.
Although the initial Athenian force was very strong with 130 triremes, 5,000 oplitas, numerous support ships and lighter troops, after initial victories of Athens army commanded by Nicia - a rather undecided general who had opposed the realization of the expedition – the siege became static giving time to Sparta and its allies to send troops and a fleet to Sicily.
Athens sends thousands of reinforcements to overcome the standoff, but the Syracusans and their allies have the upper hand over the Athenian fleet during a naval battle in the port of Syracuse where they managed to trap the Athenian ships burning and sinking them. The Athenian army tried to escape by land, abandoning the many sick and wounded, but it was brought into battle and defeated. The survivors were captured and used as slaves in stone quarries and to build the monuments of Syracuse.
SYRACUSAN LATOMIE
According to the ancient historians, the Latomìe were used as prison. . After the victory of Syracuse over the Athenian troops, the captured soldiers were locked up and left to die inside the quarries.
Here is the description of Tucidides:
"In the stone quarries the treatment imposed in the early days by the Syracusans was very harsh:
the crowd , crammed among the walls of that cramped quarry in the open air , in the beginning suffered the lash of the burning sun and the hot flashes that took the breath away.
Then on the contrary happened the cold autumn nights which with their passage of climate caused new exhaustion and more serious ailments.
For narrowness of space they were obliged to meet their needs in that same quarry bottom,
Moreover the piles of corpses growing up there thrown in bulk on each other, those who bled out of the sores, those crushed by the swings of the season, those killed by other such causes, spread an intolerable stench.
And they were plagued by the torment of hunger and thirst
(since in the first eight months the Syracusans threw them a bowl of water and two of wheat as a daily ration each).
To conclude, no respite was granted to them from any of the sufferings to which people buried in such a chasm go.
For about seventy days they were in that frightful crush.
Then, excluding the Athenian and the Siceliote troops who had direct responsibility for the expedition,all the others ended up on the slave market.
From the beginning of its foundation, Syracuse had the need to defend itself from enemy attacks from land and sea
The construction of the Dionysian walls and the Eurialo Castle is attributed by ancient Greek historians to the tyrant Dionysius the Elder. Mindful of the Athenian expedition against the city (415-413 BC), he devised, towards the end of the 5th century, a defensive system that included the wide plateau of the Epipoli mountains, access to the city on the country side,
in order to prevent the Carthaginian invaders from building walls around the city and isolating it.
After the Roman conquest of the city in 212 B.C. the great military complex of the Eurialo was abandoned and reused only in the Byzantine age as protection against the raids of the North Africans.
The Eurialo Castle occupies about 15,000 square meters and is one of the largest and most complete military works of the Greek period.
Already known among the ancients, its name derives from the Greek Euryalos, 'great nail', referred to the shape of the rocky saddle on which the fortress is placed.
The name Euryalos is mentioned by Tucidide even before the construction of the castle.
The imposing fortification was built at the most vulnerable point of the Epipoli mountains , where the north and south sections of the Dionysian walls join.
Over time the castle underwent many transformations and extensions, especially in the period of Hieron II (3rd century B.C.).
Reconstruction by Flipped prof.
In the castle Eurialo the principles of the defensive art of all time are widely applied.
The advanced works, consisting of three ditches, arranged transversally to the dorsal, and the double enclosure of the main body,
demonstrate that the concept of subsequent resistance or scaling, which was applied too much by military engineers of the seventeenth century, was well known in ancient times. ...
In those provisions, which the highly advanced construction technique of the Greek military architects managed to make perfectly correspond to the purpose, and thanks to the copious development of underground communications, the concept of active defense is revealed to the highest degree.
The principle of inert mass and passive defense, represented by the gigantic walls, could be considered the characteristic of the military architecture of antiquity,
gives way, in the Syracuse fortress, to mobility, elasticity and resistance activity.
In 1941 during the period of the Second World War due to the bombing, the finds of the archaeological museum were transported using mules and hidden in the tunnels of the castle.
The Dionysian walls
The so-called Dionysian walls departed from the western end, near the modern Belvedere area, defended by the Eurialo Castle,
and continued north, surrounding the huge plain of the Epipolis
and reaching the sea near the promontory of today’s Santa Panagia.
To the south, the walls ranged from the Eurialo Castle to the locality called Portella del Fusco and then to the Great Port.
The section of the eastern walls, now completely disappeared, protected the cliffs overlooking the sea.
The whole perimeter of the walls, except the coastal section, was interspersed by large towers (10 on the north side, 7 on the south side), which also served as accommodation for soldiers.
The perimeter of the Dionysian walls, according to Strabone, measured about 30 kilometers,
which placed them among the most imposing fortifications of antiquity,
comparable to the walls of Themistocles in Athens and the Aurelian walls in Rome. ⤏
Its width responded to the need to defend the city from the attack of the catapults and isolate the vanguards of enemy armies and move thus to counterattack.
According to the story of the Greek historian Diodorus (1st century BC), for the construction of the walls, Dionysius gathered the population of the countryside, choosing 60,000 able citizens.
He divided the perimeter into sections and assigned an architect for each stadium (an ancient unit of measurement corresponding to just under 200 meters).
It seems that he went to the yard every day and encouraged the workers that the walls were completed in twenty days.
The building material for the construction of the walls was obtained directly on site.
Around the walls are in fact visible cuts in the rock that correspond to the shapes of the ashlars,
then worked double axe and produced roughly in rather same sizes (120 x 50 x 50 cm).
In total, 5,000 tons of limestone blocks were extracted from the latomie (the quarries).
There is no data on the height of the walls:
from the comparison with the wall systems of Gela and Selinunte, it was assumed that they were 6 meters high
The width varies from 3 to 8 meters: the widest sections probably housed catapults.
ROME BESIEGES SYRACUSE
Despite diplomatic attempts the war between the Roman Republic and the Kingdom of Syracuse broke out in 214 BC while the Romans were still fighting with Carthage at the height of the Second Punic War (218-201 BC). A Roman force led by General Marcus Claudius Marcello led the siege to the port city renowned for its significant fortifications and the large walls that protected it by sea and land. Among the Syracuse defenders was the mathematician and scientist Archimedes. The city was harshly defended for many months against the Romans and their devices such as floating siege towers with grappling hooks and stairs mounted on ships that had been lowered thanks to pulleys on the city walls. Archimedes devised defensive devices to counter Rome's efforts, including a huge hook operated by a crane - the Archimedes's Claw - which was used to lift enemy ships out of the sea before dropping them. Legend has it that he also created a giant mirror that was used to deflect the powerful Mediterranean sun onto the sails of the ships setting them on fire. The siege mired in a stalemate changed in 212 BC when the Romans received the information that the inhabitants of the city would participate in the annual festival of their Goddess Artemis. A small team of Roman soldiers approached the city under the cover of the night and managed to climb the walls to enter the city in order to allow reinforcements to take control of the outer part of the city. Syracuse fell definitively 8 months later due to the betrayal of one of the captains of the Siracusan army.
SYRACUSE CAPITAL OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE
Syracuse was chosen as the new capital and residence by Emperor Constant II, from 663 to 668, both for the great historical past of the city and for the strategic location: Sicily in fact occupied a privileged position between Italy and North Africa in which the imperial authority was threatened by Longobard and Arabs respectively. During the Syracuse period the emperor exerted a strong tax burden on the Byzantine regions of southern Italy without taking into account the ecclesiastical privileges, except those of the imperial court and the army, coming into conflict with Rome and religious authority. After losing the support of all his subjects a conspiractook place among the exponents of the Byzantine and Armenian aristocracy;Constant II was assassinated in 668.
THE ARABS CONQUER SYRACUSE
The 9-month siege of Syracuse by Arabs and Berber Muslims ended on May 21st , 878 AD. after a heroic resistance from the Syracusans still part of the Byzantine Empire of Basil I. It was one of the hardest and bloodiest sieges in Arabs history in Sicily, Syracuse was surrounded and the inhabitants unable to get food. The besieged, though starving, resisted to the conquest. The heroic though vain Syracusan resistance became proverbial among the Byzantines. The capital of Sicily was taken over and the legal title passed to Palermo. This episode marked the end of Syracuse's hegemony on the island.
Athenian siege of Syracuse (415 B.C.)
20
THINGS TO DO IN SYRACUSE AND SURROUNDINGS
With years of experience in the industry, the Cape Murro Diving team
will offer the opportunity to take diving courses, freediving courses, to achieve
patents and to safely immerse yourself in one of the
most beautiful marine areas of the Mediterranean.
Anemone Diving Center is born from a huge and innate passion for the sea
and for the world of diving. A passion that has united us in an adventure
full of emotions.
. We are a sport association that proposes
technical and recreational diving courses of various levels, guided diving in the Area
Marina Protected Plemmirio and boat excursions.
The Sailing Team is a nautical charter company that organizes daily sailing tours and puts its fleet at your service for a holiday in the Aeolian Islands or the Egadi Islands.
The Skydive Sicilia team offers Skydiving and skydiving sessions in
tandem or single arrangement The team also offers a school for those wishing to
venture alone into a unique experience.
Several bars offer aperitifs at sunset (€10)
Aperitif at sunset among the anchored yatchs (€10)
Sunset in the natural swimming pool of Varco(sea access) 25 (€0)
But also at Varco (sea access) 20-21-22-24-26-28
12 km from Syracuse
Sunset on the sand (€0)
60 km from Syracuse
An excursus from prehistoric "tribal art" from alien design to the grandeur of the classical monuments of Greek and Roman Syracuse, from the places of Ovid's metamorphosis and of the rat of Proserpina, set of the Eleusinian mysteries, of the Dionysian rites and worship of the sun, home of nymphs muses menads heroes divinities and monstrous creatures such as Arethusa, Alpheus, Hercules, Hades, Artemis, Apollo Ciane and the Gorgons.
A journey into the lost empire of Syracuse between tyranny, democracy, philosophy, wars and vicissitudes.
A tour through enchanted gardens, latomies a place of imprisonment and death, Swabian and even older castles, Renaissance architecture and works of art, Baroque palaces, early Christian churches of the west, catacombs and Byzantine frescoes, vibrant poems, fantastic tales , places of the martyrdom of St. Lucia, of the miracle of the tearing of Our Lady.
Places of passage for thousands of migratory birds, high rocks overlooking the sea, dream beaches, deep gorges, waterfalls, rivers rich in papyrus, unique wines including the Muscat of Syracuse, the folklore of the Arab market, good food and much more.
Deep and long canyon carved from the waters of the Cassibile River richly populated by eastern willow and white poplars. Here the waterways have carved their beds into the limestone rock forming gorges and cavities of rare beauty that have hosted different populations over the millennia. In addition to the sedentary and migratory bird in the Canyon there are also several terrestrial and river species: the river crab, the marsh turtle and the macrostigma trout.
Difficulty: medium. Descent duration about 40 minutes. Elevation gap 500 meters. Required: closed shoes, hat, swimsuit, drinking water and food.
Car parking is near the entrance (20 meters)
🚍 No Public Bus
Crystal clear sea, long and golden beaches, incredible landscapes, Mediterranean vegetation, bird watching observers that will allow you to admire flamingos, herons, storks and other splendid birds.
The peculiarity of Vendicari oasis e is given by the different biotypes that compose it: from the pools that form the marshes to the rocky and sandy coast or the typical Mediterranean scrub.
Both the terrestrial environments surrounding the marshes and the aquatic environments are characterized by an extraordinary variety of habitats and exceptional biodiversity: this is due, as far as the former is concerned, to the presence of very different substrates, to particular hydrogeological characteristics and the different physical-chemical characteristics of the waters.
There is a very dense Mediterranean scrub, which in general characterizes the territory with lentils, myrtics, junceum, wild olive trees.
The coastal sandy environment includes, distributed in parallel strips to the coast from shore to inland, sea rocket, salicornia, beach-grass, Eryngium creticum, maritime euphoria, sea lily; flowering beach, cornflower beach, sea fennel, in the strips behind the dunes; an exclusive, dense and uninterrupted strip of Mediterranean scrub with juniper, along with ephedra, lentischio and fillirea in the innermost and most undisturbed dunes.
Vendicari represents not only an important nerve area in the migratory and wintering routes of many bird species (over 200 species, some residents and some nesters, including the spatula, ash heron, stork, flamingo, ibis wild goose, pink seagull, black-winged stilt, stone curl, others) but it also gives refuge to many mammals (Silicon embody, dormouse, hedgehog, pygmy shrew, vole, porcupine, fox, weasel, wild rabbit), amphibians and reptiles (colubro, grass snake, leopard rat snake, green lizard, marsh turtle) and insects.
Also important is the marsh environment, where there are numerous species of aquatic fauna (fish, crustaceans, reptiles) and submerged vegetation (algae and several fanerogames, proper to these environments).
The marine environment in front of these marshes - characterized by shallow seabeds consisting of both rocks covered by algal associations and sandy and grasslands of the Oceanic Poseidonia, and populated by appreciated fish fauna (sea bass, sea bream, dassie) - is among the areas identified by the Law for the establishment of a marine reserve (AMP).
Parallel to the entire coastal section of the reserve there are a series of easy paths (accessible from the entrances Eloro, Calamosche, Main Entry Tonnara and Citadella) that can be walked almost non-stop.
From the main entrance, where the Information Point is located and a first hut to observe the birds, you can proceed both left (north) and right (south).
In the first case, moving between the coast and the Great and Small Marshes, in succession you will meet the beach , the Tonnara (old tuna factory ) , the Swabian tower station and the visitor center (7min), an observation point (14min) and the beach of Calamosche (37min), from which with a detour (18min) is you can reach the entry of the same name;
Heading south(right hand side), immersed in the beautiful vegetation with juniper scrub, between the shore and the banks of the Roveto and the swamps of the Sichili, you will meet in succession the mouth of the swamp of Sichili (beyond which you reach an additional observation point on the Sichili swamp with a slight detour), the beach and South entrance (30min). (30min).
Route by car Entrance Avengers Tonnara ↱ parking lot at about 200 meters.
From the main entrance you have 2 options:
Left: Pantano Grande (big marsh) observatory (400mt), Beach (500mt), Tonnara (600mt), Pantano piccolo (marsh) Observatory (1.7km) ,Calamosche (5km).
Right: Beach (600 meters) ,Observatory (1.5km), the Citadel at 5 km (in front of a fantastic portion of beach) ☠ DO NOT CROSS FORBIDDEN PORTION OF BEACH.
Refreshment facilities are available only before you access into the reserve.
Itinerary by BUS Entrance from Helios hotel 8 km + 8 km return Bus from Noto to Lido di Noto (8.15,10.15), Bus Stop Hotel Helios. From Hotel Elios Hiking 8 km through the beaches of Pizzuta, Eloro, Marianelli, Cala Mosche and then reach the Tonnara of Vendicari and the main entrance. Walking another 5 km you reach the Citadel of Vendicari one of the most beautiful beaches in the area.( If not covered by seaweeds)
Also important is the historical profile: there are, in fact, some latomie (stone quarries) of the 5th century BC . used in the ancient Greek city of Eloro for the construction of temples and monuments.
La Trigona: a square-plan Byzantine Cuba with three apses, an upper dome and an eastward opening so that, as a tradition, the light of the full moon by entering the building announced the beginning of Holy Easter.
Dating back to medieval times the Swabian Tower built by Pietro of Aragon, Count of Alburquerque and Duke of Noto (1406-1438), to signal and repel attacks by Saracen and Barbarian pirates.
Another marvel to visit, from more recent times - 700th - is the Tonnara di Vendicari, also calledBafutu the activity of the Tonnara has always been facilitated by the presence of salt pans.
Literally a dive into the past for an unparalleled experience: walking on the beach where ancient population more than 2000 years ago fished, ran, rejoiced, fought and died;dive into the waters in front of the ancient Heloros, where walls, Hellenistic houses, portion of a theatrical cavea, a Shrine of Demetra and Kore are visible; relax among the changing colors of the clear sea and be able to relive the summer atmosphere so' as the ancestral inhabitants did, it will become an indelible memory.
Literary sources provide little information about the site connected to Syracuse by the Elorina Road. In 493 BC Hippocrates tyrant of Gela defeated the Syracusans on Elorian territory. Not far from Eloro, the Syracusans defeated the Athenians in the Battle of the Assinaro in 413 BC; Eloro surrendered to Marcellus (Rome) in 214 BC.
🚍 BUS Noto-Lido di Noto. Bus Stop Hotel Helios. From Hotel Elios by 1 km hiking you reach the beach of Pizzuta which is located to the left of the ruins. On the right of the ruins the beach named Eloro-Tellaro from river's name, it is reachable through the internal road behind the ruins.
The car can be parked at the entrance tof the reserve near the Helios hotel about 800 meters from the beach.
Note. The archaeological park is currently closed, the ruins are visible from the outside along a path that circumnavigates the site.
The remains of the villa were found in 1971 under a 17th-century farm near the Tellaro River.
Among the mosaics of the two rooms, scenes of the redemption of the body of Hector: Ulysses, Achilles and Diomedes, identified by inscriptions in ancient Greek, are weighing the hero's body.
The mosaic floor in the second room shows a hunting scene with an outdoor banquet between the trees. The female figure in the scene is the personification of Africa.
The mosaic scenes found in the second room are reminiscent of the mosaics in the Villa Romana del Casale near Piazza Armerina, however this mosaic has more stylized figures and two-dimensional and uncertain proportions, making the effect very different.
The mosaics were probably the work of North African craftsmen.
bus 🚍:NA.
The carpark is beside the villa.
summer 🕐 7/7 , 8.30am-6pm (Winter 8.30am-4.30pm) (7/11/2019).
Access Mobility reduced YES.
14 Aperitivo in Marzamemi
seaside village
The charming seaside village of Syracuse province is a real treat not to be missed.
Any description of Marzamemi would be reductive, the real beauty lies in discovering the alleys and the enchanting sea views that this incredible village will offer to you.
Its birth dates back to around the year thousand when the Arabs built here the Tonnara, which for many centuries was the main of the whole of Eastern Sicily.
In the heart of the village, Piazza Regina Margherita ↱,will leave you breathless: here overlook the two churches of the village dedicated both to the patron saint, St. Francis of Paola, the Palace of Villadorata and, all around, the fishermen's houses, dating back to 1600s.
The village is framed by the two natural ports: La Fossa and la Balata. On summer weekends the village is congested ,the atmosphere is not the same.
By car you park 300 meters from the main avenue of Marzamemi, the main square is about 600 meters away.
On summer weekends the village is quite popular therefore crowded , quiet and relaxing atmosphere can be found in Spring and Autumn.
For those who want, a professional tour guide will take you through the baroque streets of this beautiful Unesco-listed city,you will learn about the beauty the secrets and the intrigues of the stone garden, open-air artwork and one of the finest jewels of the Sicilian Baroque .
🚍 BUS 1h/€ From Terminal Bus SR to Terminal Bus Noto (Center 300mt) ☞ Interbus
/
AST(AST NO RIDES on Sunday)
🚆 TRAIN:1h/4€ From Syracuse Station to Noto Station (centre 1.1 km uphill walk) ☞ Trenitalia
The cathedral, which sits on top of a monumental staircase, was started a few months after the earthquake, but was not completed until 1770. The facade, devoid of ornaments and extravagances, incorporates baroque motifs and classic elements. The three naves of the church are divided by high pillars with double lesene. In the chapel, at the back of the right aisle, is preserved the Silver Ark of the patron saint of the city, San Corrado.
Itinerary Isola delle Correnti
At Isola delle Correnti we are at the far south of the European continent, 60km more south of the north coast of Africa, a place of intense colors and smells. The location offers a beautiful sunset, long beaches and crystal clear sea.
You can park about 100 meters from the beach.
bus 🚍:NA
Itinerary of the Iblei Villages
An itinerary off the normal tourist routes will make you discover an unexpected treasure of nature art and good food where you will meet helpful and kind people towards visitors.
Starting from Syracuse, a car tour will take you through the Medieval villages of the Iblei Mountains, small towns that can be reached through paths between the Iblei valleys. Below are the main architectural works to be seen during short stops along the route.
Cassaro, Church of St. Anthony Abbot 1760
Built between 1693 and 1760 at the behest of citizens who participated through large cash donations. The sides of the staircase are embellished with original geometric decorations. The baroque facade well slender with three bells was designed by Domenico Blamato from Floridia . In the original design there was a loggia hosting a bell that was never put in place. The entrance portal is bordered by two beautiful columns adorned with superb decorations. On the sides of the portal are on display two niches that contain the statues of St. Anthony Abbot and Our Lady with the Child.
Ferla, Basilica of St. Sebastian 1481 / 1741
Reconstructed after the earthquake of 1693 on an existing church of 1400 on the design of the architect and sculptor Michelangelo Di Giacomo da Buccheri, completed in 1741 in ibleo Baroque style. After the redevelopment, the temple was more impressive than the previous one till the point of competing for the title of Mother Church.
Buccheri, St Mary Magdalene Church.
Reconstructed in 1750 with a facade by the Buccaneer architect Michelangelo Di Giacomo, it contains the marble statue of Magdalene carved in 1508 by Antonello Gagini, a 16th-century wooden crucifix placed in the central altar, a 17th-century canvas depicting St Michael in the left aisle and a painting depicting St. Ambrose, patron of the village, of the mid-18th century.
Buscemi, St. Anthony Church from Padua
Defined a particular example in the Sicilian Baroque landscape for the movement given to the facade. The interior, which probably follows the architectural structure of the seventeenth century, houses an 18th-century wooden statue of theSour of great plastic intensity and some tombs of members of the Requesenz family.
Palazzolo, Basilica of St. Paul
The Church of St. Paul, patron saint of Palazzolo Acreide, rebuilt in the 18th century thanks to charity is truly spectacular. It has a stunning three-story tower baroque facade with high columns and arches ending with the elegant bell tower at the top. The three aisles stretch between masterpieces of religious art, be they sculptures, paintings or architectural details, such as those that emphasize the originality of the fourth altar on the left that seems to defy every law of physics. The attention, however, is immediately transmitted to the altar, framed by two large spiral columns: in the center, behind the large canvas of Crestadoro depicting the Conversion of St. Paul, there is the statue of the saint wielding a sword, carved on wood by Vincenzo Lorefice 1567.
Canicattini Bagni , Alfano Bridge
The bridge of St. Alfano built in 1796 connects Canicattini Bagni to the feud of St. Alfano. The two statues on the sides of the large arch carry a bread and a wicker wine bottle. A legend has it that the two statues represent two characters with the names of Currarinu and Calamaru, two peasants divided by deep hatred and rivalry, who one day gathered on the bridge to challenge each other. The duel led them to kill each other.
Bathing in the river, walking through the ravines and the gorges of Pantalica as the first human settlements did 15 centuries ago is definitely a unique experience.
How to get there by car:
From Syracuse and Catania (A18 motorway) take the Sortino exit.
From Ragusa SS194 drive to Giarratana - Buccheri - Sortino (Main Access) or continue towards Giarratana Palazzolo, Cassaro Ferla (Secondary Access)
Pantalica route 9 km (round trip) divided into different routes.
By Car main entrance Sortino side, street side parking near the entrance.
By Car entrance Filiporto Cassaro side, roadside parking near the entrance.
BUS SR-SORTINO:☞ Interbus or ☞ Ast then 6km slope road to Pantalica entrance.
BUS SR-CASSARO:☞ Interbus or ☞ Ast then 3.3km slope road to reach Anapo Valley Entrance, a nature trail that reaches the Necropolis of Pantalica in about 7 km.
CHECK IF CASSARO ACCESS IS OPEN OR NOTAccess: free. Opening hours: April-September 7-19, October March 8-17. Equipment needed: hiking or gym shoes , water and hat in summer. Mobile network: no. Total area: 3,712 hectares. Municipalities: Ferla, Cassaro, Buscemi, Palazzolo Acreide.
Points of interest: Bat cave, Nordic necropolis, Byzantine village Cavetta, Anaktoron, north-west necropolis, Filiport necropolis, small museum, Anapo river, Calcinara river, Cavagrande river
The Reserve, founded in July 1997, is located in the area of the "Ibleo plateau", which characterizes much of southeastern Sicily. The territory of the reserve constitutes a remarkable complex of great interest in terms of geomorphology, nature, landscape, history, archaeology and ethnoanthropology.
The pantalica site in southeastern Sicily is best known for its vast cemeteries of chambered tombs carved into the rock dating back to the 13th and 7th centuries BC. An estimated 5000 graves are distributed around the flanks of a large headland located at the junction of the Anapo River with its tributary, Calcinara river.
In addition to its archaeological interest is an important nature reserve (Pantalic Oriented Nature Reserve) with a variety of local flora and fauna and natural caves (especially the Cave of the Bats).
Various routes facilitate visitor access, including a disused railway line (dismantled in 1956) along the Anapo valley floor. You can access the headland directly with a car from Ferla, or by walking along the old mule track from the parking lot on the road from Sortino and crossing the Calcinara stream.
In the 13th century BC some coastal settlements were abandoned probably due to the arrival of the Siculi on the island and the beginning of more unstable conditions, Pantalica offered a natural defense.
Pantalica evidently flourished for about 600 years, from about 1250 to 650 BC. The current name of the site probably dates back to the early Middle Ages or the Arab period. The ancient name of the uncertain site is associated by some archaeologists with the siculus king Hyblon,mentioned by Thucydides in connection with the founding of the Greek colony of Megara Hyblaea in 728 BC.
For many centuries before the Greek colonization Pantalica was undoubtedly one of the main sites of eastern Sicily dominating the surrounding territory including subsidiary settlements. Around 650 BC, however, it seems to have been a victim of the expansion of the city of Syracuse, which at that time formed an outpost at Akrai (Palazzolo Acreide).
However, it was still occupied during classical antiquity, since artifacts from the IV-IIIcentury BC. (Hellenistic period) are attested, as well as during the late ancient or Byzantine periods. After the 12th century it was probably largely deserted and obscured by Sortino.
The remains visible today consist mainly of numerous prehistoric burial chambers carved into the limestone rock, sometimes equipped with a porch or a short entrance hallway in front of the burial chamber, originally sealed with stones or a slab. There are also some large houses carved into the rock with uncertain dates (often called Byzantine, but perhaps of earlier origins).
The so-called Anaktoron or princely palace, located near the top of the hill, is also controversial. The thought of some archaeologists originally was of a late Bronze Age building inspired by Thecenaean buildings, it was more certainly occupied in the Byzantine period.
The remains of a large defensive moat cut into limestone are clearly visible in Filiporto (on the western side of the headland, closer to Ferla);
probably dating back to the 4th century BC. It represents a defensive work of Greek military design, probably in line with the policy of Dionysus of Syracuse, designed to protect allied sites inland.
There are also three small medieval chapels carved into the rock popularly called the Crucifix Cave (near the North Cemetery), the Cave of San Nicolicchio (on the south side) and the Cave of San Micidario (in Filiporto), which retain faint traces of frescoes that attest to the presence of small monastic communities.
The site was mainly excavated between 1895 and 1910 by the illustrious Italian archaeologist Paolo Orsi although most of the tombs had already been emptied long before his arrival. Bears' finds are on display in the Archaeological Museum of Syracuse, including characteristic burnished terracotta pots and metal objects including weapons (small knives and daggers) and clothing items such as bronze fibulas (pins) and rings, placed with the deceased in the tombs. Most of the graves contained between 1 and 7 individuals of all ages and sexes. Many graves have evidently been reopened periodically to admit other burials.
The average lifespan of human life in that period was probably around 30 years. The size of the prehistoric population is difficult to estimate, it could easily have been 1000 or more people.
Pantalica has five cemeteries spread over a large area:
The necropolis of Filiporto consists of almost 1000 tombs located on the southwestern side of the headland (accessible from the road from Ferla). In the same area are the remains of the defensive rock ditch of later era (probably 4th century BC) that crosses the headland at the narrowest point.
The northwestern necropolis is one of the oldest (12th - 11th century BC) and is crossed by the paved road from Ferla.
The necropolis of Cavetta has tombs and houses carved into the rock visible from the street and designated observation platforms.
The northern necropolis is a spectacular cemetery of about 1000 tombs that cover the very steep slopes that dominate the Calcinara River, best seen from the track from Sortino and the observation platforms near the trail. Remains of large mansions carved into the rock lie on the gentler slopes to the east.
The southern necropolis stretches along the Anapo River for over 1 kilometer and it is easily visible from the roadway at the bottom of the valley (a path takes you down from the Anaktoron). The old railway station, restored, has information about the local fauna and flora.
The so-called Anaktoron (a mycenaean princely palace) at the top of the hill is a multi-room building with various rectangular halls excavated in the 19th century by Paolo Orsi. Its origins are obscure (see above) but they were certainly used in the Byzantine period as attested by the shingles and pottery found.
Wlking path of Anapo's Valley 13 km + 13 km Return. Difficulty: easy.
St Paul's Church
We have selected some restaurants or similar from the 574 open in Syracuse, in our opinion, among the best for taste, location, fair price or elegance.
A riot of freshness and taste to try among the local products: watermelon, white melon, yellow melon, strawberries, peaches, grapes, lousies, oranges, lemons, almonds, pistachios, plums, apricots,, pomegranates, fig and more
Informal places and street food
All the flavor of the Sicilian tradition.
Syracusan cuisine already famous in ancient Greece for its fish sprinkled with flavored cheese, wheat pastes, sweets made with Honey from Iblei Mountain and its muscat at the time called "Polio" was synonymous of abundance and sophistication: the proverb "like a Syracusan banquet ' was used to indicate particularly rich and elaborate canteens. Plato criticized the lifestyle of the Syracusan and their cuisine: they, said the Athenian, have lunch twice a day and corrupt with their cuisine the soul and body of the Greek warrior. Since then that jubilation of flavors has become a unique product with quality brands :
DOC: Controlled Denomination of Origin
DOP: Protected Designation of Origin
IGP: Protected Geographical Indication
PAT: Traditional Italian food Product.
Local SHELLFISHES including SHRIMPS, RED AND VIOLET KING PRAWNS, SCAMPI, LOBSTERS, MANTIS SHRIMPS are a real treat, the price can be high depending on the period but it's really worth to have it;
SEA URCHIN: collected by local fishermen, for whom their sale has become a form of sustenance, are a real delicacy and nevertheless have a moderate cost (a dish with sea urchin is around €15). In May and June it is forbidden to fish and consume sea urchin, penalty of salty fines. You can buy them directly from the street vendors at the cost of (10-15 euros per glass) and consume them at home simply on top of a bruschetta (toasted bread).
THE 10 RULES TO RECOGNIZE FRESH FISH
1)At the restaurant ask to see the available fish.
2)The fresh fish is compact, tense, if very fresh can even be curved;
3)The skin must be firm, smooth,brilliant not wrinkled and not flaccid.
4)The belly must be adherent and not leaning.
5)The eye is domed outwards (convex), the cornea must be transparent and the pupil bright black;
6)The gills are bright red and mucus-free. The smell of gills (and abdominal cavity) is of seaweed;
7)The slice of tuna should not be flabby (pressing NOT must remain the imprint of the finger), the smell pleasant, deep red blood colour in case of bluefin tuna (defrosted bluefin tuna has a dull red color). Yellowfin tuna although less valuable and less red is good too.
THE 10 RULES TO RECOGNIZE FRESH FISH
8) The swordfish slice should not be flabby (Same proof of the imprint), it must have a color between white and glossy pink and not opaque (+pink = +exquisite)
9) Imported squid are perfect, compact skin, same size, no defects. Local squid are peeled, have different sizes and are more expensive. Putting your finger inside you have to see it (Raw).
10) Fresh shrimp has the head darker than the body. The imported shrimp is red-orange because of the sulphites used to store them.
RAW FISH MUST BE FLASH FROZEN BEFORE BEING EATEN.
MUSSELS MUST BE ALWAYS COOKED being filters may contain harmful bacteria. The mussels already open before cooking and those left closed after cooking are DIED MUSSELS and should not be eaten.
Among the good things about Sicily its pastry definitely occupies the top position, great variety of choice between cannoli ice cream cakes , all yummy, a ranking would be subjective so we just list the sweets worth to be tryed:
CANNOLI STUFFED WITH SWEET RICOTTA CHEESE OR CHOCOLATE, BIGNE' (CREAM PUFF) STUFFED WITH WHITE CREAM OR CHOCOLATE, ALMOND PASTRIES , SICILIAN CASSATA (CAKE), PISTACCHIO AND CIOCCOLATO PIE, GRANITA (CRUSHED ICE) OF PISTACHIO, MULBERRY ,MALMOND, LEMON , COFFE' CHOCOLATE .
23 Ciane River Reserve
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7/7 24h
€Free
A The Ciane River
From the starting point A the 2.5 km itinerary runs along the river to the first source, known as Pismotta.
However, the body of water is inaccessible due to thick vegetation.
From here a 1.2 km path leads to the other source called the Cyane spring, the place of the rape of the Roman Proserpine, known as Persephone in Greek mythology.
The Cyane river (Kyanòs, Κυανός in ancient Greek) is a short stream that runs from the springs of Pisma and Pismotta,at the foot of Cozzo Pantano, into the Great Harbour of Syracuse after a short journey.
It is a perennial river where water flow also in summer and papyrus grows up to 4 meters in height shading its banks.
The area was formerly a vast swamp called Syraka, unhealthy by malaria or miasmas erasing from rotting vegetation.
Here, during the siege of Syracuse by the Athenians in 414 BC, the army commanded by Nicias was affected by malaria.
The Carthaginians suffered the same fate in 395 BC when they camped near the swamp.
Taking advantage from this situation, the tyrant Dionysios left that area without any fortification, unlike the rest of the Pentapolis
B Ciane Source
- The gateway to the Underworld, where Hades carried Persephone off beneath the depths of the Earth -
The spring is inside the Nature reserve of Cyane River and the saltpans of Syracuse.
It has an elliptical shape and it is 16 meter wide, 33 meters long and 7 meters deep.
From the starting point B a path of about 1.2 km leads to the source called Pismotta.
From there you can walk back along the riverside for about 2km and half to the starting point A.
By walking along the river and the asphalt road, you arrive at the mouth of the river, 500 mt further after crossing the state road.
The source is on the left side of the mirror of water visible from the road and it can be reached by a wooden walkway .
The salt marshes were an economic resource of great interest since the 17th century; they remained in business until the 1980s and were abandoned shortly afterwards, due to the crisis in the sector.
p>The area is an interesting stopover and nest site for various species of migrant birds.
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The Lighthouse |
Reachable by car or bike
Sightings
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Gray heron (Photo: Omar-Runòlfsson) |
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Little grebe |
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Great crested grebe (Photo: Marek-Szczepanek) |
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Redshank (Photo: Andreas-Trepte) |
Sightings
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The ferruginous duck (Photo: Erbanor) |
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Little egret (Photo: Andreas-Trepte) |
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Flamingoes (Photo: Estormiz) |
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Pied avocet (Photo: Erbanor) |
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Eurasian teal (Photo: Steve-Garvie) |
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Statue found by the river, probably the nymph Cyane. P. Orsi Museum |
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Demeter, the goddess of agriculture ,(known as the Roman Ceres), mother of Persephone; P. Orsi Museum |
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Persephone, (the equivalent Proserpina for the Romans) also referred to as Kore, maiden, the queen of the Underworld. P.Orsi Museum |
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Hades (Pluto for the Romans) the king of the Underworld: Aidone Museum |
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Anapos; the river-god, lover of the nymph Cyane. |
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Hermes (the Roman Mercury) the messenger of the Gods. He brought Persephone back to her mother: Ancient Agora Museum, Athens |
Photo: The rape of Proserpina. Gian Lorenzo Bernini Carrara marble, 1621-22 Borghese Art Gallery, Rome
Google Maps
Solarium in Ortigia overlooking the natural gulf, youth environment with music. Next there is a small free beach.
🕐 9am-6pm ☞ Updated Time Schedule
Info & Bookings +39 345 478 9578
A nice natural and free pool where you can relax and cool off, the sea is open so normally clean, provided with freshwater showers, the rocks are a little less comfortable than the sand.
Normally a free municipal solarium is installed every summer.
🕐 7/7 h24
Solarium in the city (not Ortigia) beautiful the location and also the sea.
🕐 9am-6pm ☞ Updated Time Schedule
Info & Booking : +39 320 40 18 492
🚍 Bus Open Tour Stop: Monumenti. ( 200 mt).
The beach of Marina di Priolo is a portion of coast of exceptional natural beauty: transparent waters, a long golden beach, the saline dwelling of flamingos herons and egrets, the peninsula of Manghisi archaeological area with prehistoric tombs.
The beaches are equipped with basketball courts, dog areas, children's play areas. Facilities are adequate for those with reduced mobility. Nearby is the industrial area, congested area on summer weekends.
Lido Miramare 🕐 9-18 Info & Booking +39 342 678 7786
bus 🚍: NA
Beach both free and with equipped beach. Access is via a staircase.
Beach shore Grand Hotel Ortigia.🕐 9-18
🚍Bus N°23. Bus Stop: Punta del Pero ( 100mt.)
Free sandy beach with no services, a natural pool. Access is trough a staircase. The beach is shared with the Hotel Minareto.Good for children. Partial Shadow available after midday
🚍 Bus: N°23. Bus Stop: Punta del Pero ( 1.2 km)
The area called "Pillirina" is a natural oasis with small beaches, rocky coves and seabed rich in flora and marine fauna.There are several spots where to laydown and swim.Partial shadow after midday. Good for snorkeling.
🚍 Bus N°23. Bus stop Via Isola ( 500 mt)( Ask the driver to stop near the beach)
CALA ZAFFIRO SOLARIUM IS CLOSED. THE BAY IS NICE BUT NOT CONFORTABLE.
200 meters ahead Varco 28 offers a nice spot with deep blue water, jumping point and hidden cave swimming to the right, not really suitable for children.
🚍 Bus: N°23. Bus stop :Plemmirio Cala Zaffiro (Ask the driver to stop at Varco 27 300 meters).
The two accesses Varco 25 & 26 offer a rocky shoreline on which to lie down you need a soft towel or preferably a mat. The sea is really clear characterized by the deep blue in contrast to the white cliffs that sink till sea bottom, typical scenario of Plemmirio area. At Varco 25 you can find a natural pool suitable for children.
🚍 Bus N°23. Bus stop: Plemmirio Via dei Diamanti (Ask the driver to stop at Varco 25 , 300 meters).
Dynamic youthful shore with music is also restaurant.
Varco 23 🕐 9am-7pm. Info & booking +331 956 6696
🚍 Bus N° 23. Bus stop : Plemmirio Varco 23 (Ask the driver to stop , 50 meters) .
Beautiful coast and crystal clear waters, available private shores and public beaches.
Costa del Sole Free beaches "Samoha & Piattaforme", Rocky or Sandy to alternate years depending from sea storms🕐 24h 7/7
Lido Arenella beach 🕐 9am-6pm Info & Booking : +39 0931 715025
Lido Le Nereidi Solarium 🕐 9am-6pm Info & Booking +39 330 948 906
From Costa del Sole you can reach Arenella area through a 300 mt walking path close to the sea.
From Arenella continuing towards the dunes you reach some hidden rocky coves spread over 1 km where to swim, just skirt the sea to discover them.
🚍 Bus N° 23. Bus stop Costa del Sole for the 2 beaches "Samoha & Platforms", at 100 and 300 meters ,( sandy/rocky)
Last Bus stop at Piazzale Arenella to reach Lido Arenella, Lido le Nereidi and Arenella free beach. 50 meters.
Fontane Bianche between cliffs and beautiful white sandy beaches, bathed by the cobalt blue sea. The area is equipped with all kinds of services: restaurants, bars, pharmacy, pedalboat rental, canoes, discos, hotels, private shores and public beaches. Congested area in August.
Lido Fontane bianche 🕐 9am-19am Booking +39 0931 790900
Lido Sayonara 🕐 9-19 Info & Booking +39 0931 790345
🚍 Buses N°21 & N°.22 Bus stop: Fontane Bianche ( 300 mt). Local train stop Fontane Bianche ( 800 meters).
Beautiful beach close to the Cassibile River totally in contact with nature. Parking €20/day x Car near the beach with shade trees. Entry is on the mountain side , on the right hand (going from Siracusa towards Avola). For those who want to walk about 500 meters You can park for free, keep going on the main road and take the street 50 mt after the entrance on the right hand side (Mountain side)..
🚍 Bus:NA
Golden beach and clear water, you can park near the beach, served by shore with restaurant bar and toilets.
🕐 9am-7pm Info & Booking +39 349 8710199
bus 🚍: NA
Long beach near a summer residential area, you can park near the beach, served by solariums, hotels, restaurants. Congested area during peak periods.
Sunset 🕐 9-19 Info & Booking +39 342 026 5261
🚍 Bus Noto - Lido di Noto. Stop : Piazza Sallicano.
The first of the 4 beautiful natural beaches of Vendicari's area;this beach was the place of parties and manhood games of the ancient Greek settlers. The sea is blue clear and crystalline , there are no equipped structures on the beach.This delightful place is ideal for nature lovers looking for peace and quiet near the sea, obviously not that much in high season July/August.
By car you park about 500 meters far from the reserve entrance.
🚍 Bus Noto-Lido by Noto. Bus Stop Hotel Helios, then hiking 1 km to reach the beach of Pizzuta.
South side of the archaeological park Eloro is the second of the 4 beautiful natural beaches with soft golden sand bordered by dunes and Mediterranean vegetation.Eloro takes its name from the ancient colony whose remains lie on the headland, not far from the river Tellaro. Crossing the river you get to Marianelli beach. There are no structures, only nature.
By car you park about 300 meters far.
🚍 Bus Noto-Lido di Noto. Bus Stop Hotel Helios, then hiking 1 km to reach the beach of Pizzuta and then to reach Eloro beach it is necessary to take the road to turn around Helios ruins for about 1 km (Pizzuta beach and Eloro beach are not connected by sea)
The third of the 4 beautiful natural beaches in the name of freedom is Marianelli, a beautiful destination for naturists who love nudism and gay-friendly beach. The sand is gold and the sea has an impeccable clarity. Continuing south on the trails above the dunes you reach the beautiful Cala Mosche in about 1.5 Km.
By car parking is about 800mt. faraway.
🚍 Bus Noto-Lido di Noto. Bus Stop Hotel Helios, then hiking 3 km on the sand to reach the beaches of Pizzuta, Eloro and then Marianelli. Eloro and Marianelli are connected by walking pth near the sea.
The fourth of the 4 beautiful natural beaches is the famous Calamosche, a ravine of extreme beauty destination for many of the tourists who visit this part of Sicily, mother nature's masterpiece.
By car parking is about 1.2 km from the beach.
🚍 Bus Noto-Lido di Noto. Bus Stop Hotel Helios, then hiking 5 km to reach the beach of Pizzuta,Eloro,Marianelli and Calamosche.
Vendicari with its fauna, its sandy beaches, its archaeological sites is ideal for those who are looking for peace and quiet near the sea. From the main entrance you have 2 options: Left, along 1.5 km : Beach, Tonnara (Tuna factory), observatories nearby the saltpans, Calamosche beach (5km). Right, along 1.5 km: Beaches, Observatories nearby saltpans, the Citadel beach (5 km) ☠ DO NOT CROSS PROHIBITED AREAS. There are no refreshment facilities within the reserve, only before accessing it.
Car parking is about 200 meters from the main entrance.
🚍(GOING) Train Syracuse-Noto (MON to SAT) (05:36, awakening of Noto) or Bus AST (07:00.08:00) or INTERBUS (Departures from 09:30) Largo Pantheon↱ .
Then Shuttle Noto-Lido di Noto (2.5€ 1 way, last stop at Helios Hotel).
From there 8 km hiking (Nice path but hot) to reach Vendicari + 8 km back
🚍(BACK) Bus Lido di Noto at Helios hotel)-Noto, then (MON to SAT) Bus AST Noto-Syracuse 19:25 21:15 / Train Noto-Syracuse 18:18 20:18.
San Lorenzo has definitely one of the most beautiful sand type in Sicily, the color of the water, when the sea is calm, gives intense shades of blue. The area is served by several beach resorts and restaurants.
Lido San Lorenzo 🕐 9-19 Info & Booking +39 0931 841799
Agua resort 🕐 9-19 Info & Booking +39 0931 841684
By car, parking is 100 meters from the beaches.
🚍 Bus: Interbus Sr-Marzamemi 9.30am (1.30h) - Return 5.15pm. Then 6 km (Marzamemi bike rental €18)
Isola delle correnti SR-62km
Isola delle Correnti (island of the currents) is located in the far south of the European continent, 60 km further south of the North African coast, in the area of Portopalo where the Ionian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea meet. It is a long and beautiful beach with a fine golden sand and crystal clear water. Thanks to its exposure to winds it is also a great place for windsurfing. The location offers a beautiful sunset.
Scialai.it 🕐 9-22.30 Info & Booking +39 327 714 1511
By car parking is 100 meters from the beach.
🚍 Bus: Interbus SR-Portopalo Capo Passero 9.30,11.30 (1.45h €5.80/route) (Return 17.00). Then 7 km (Portopalo bike rental € 18)
MAPS & Current Island Itineraries
Located in the western part of the Isola delle Correnti, Carratois is a well served and beautiful beach where to spend a summer day. In the summer the shores offer aperitifs and music.
Kalè Beach Club 🕐 9-23 Info & Booking +39 391 490 0267
Lido le Dune Beach 🕐 9-23 Info & Booking +39 333 827 0085
Blue White Lido 🕐 9-23 Info & Booking +39 327 656 8086
By car you park about 100 meters from the beaches.
🚍 Bus: Interbus SR-Portopalo Capo Passero 9.30,11.30 (1.45h €5.80/Ride) - Return 5pm. Then 7 km (Portopalo bike rental €18)
4[a]The Archbishopric
The brow on the Cathedral Square testifies the building was wanted by Bishop Giovanni Torres and built in 1618, as the inscription along the architrave, as well as the coat of arms.
The architect Andrea Vermexio was the author of the structure on the square, but the elevation is from 1751 by engineer Luigi Dumontier.
Notable is the viridarium – a hanging garden with lemon trees that was for the prelates' use. The plants today face off with their verdant fronds and golden yellow fruits from the balustrade on the beautiful Cathedral Square.
The vestibule is from the 18th century and Roman marble columns probably from the Roman forum were repurposed for its creation.
On the three courtyards there are buildings of the eighteenth century which hid medieval masonry that came to light during recent restoration work. In the first courtyard is the so-called swabian chapel, which was built on the 13th-century .
The Archbishop's Palace is home to the Archbishop's Curia of Syracuse, the New Seminary and the prestigious Alagonian Library. Its foundation is due to Mons. Giovanni Battista Alagona, Bishop of Syracuse from 1773 to 1801.
4[a]The Archbishopric
The book collection it contains is of extraordinary value. There is an exceptional collection of philosophical, theological, literary and historical publications on Sicily and Syracuse in particular. It houses 70 manuscripts, 37,058 volumes, 20 periodicals and 450 editions of the 16th century.
There are as well 21 precious Greek, Latin and Arabic codes. A Bible in Gothic characters and a commented Qur'an represent real book rarities.
The collection of 60 incunabula from the 15th to 16th centuries, among the oldest printed editions, is a valuable one. The reading room is from the 17th century and consists of the wooden cladding of the walls equipped with shelves superimposed in two orders and the coffered ceiling.
As part of the Alagonian Library, cultural initiatives were established such as the Georgian-ecclesiastical Academy of Logoteta, the Medals collection of the canonical Lentinello and the canonical librarian.
Among the distinguished visitors to the Library, Horatio Nelson, who stayed in Syracuse in 1797 and 1800, during the expedition to Abukir against Napoleon.
The entire precious library collection, being owned by the bishops, remained, fortunately, exempt from the confiscation of the ecclesiastical goods carried out in 1866 by the Liberals after the Unity of Italy. The Library can be visited.
5 Saint. Lucia alla Badia Church
It was one of the first churches to rise up from the ashes of the terrible earthquake of 1693 thanks to the works of Luciano Caracciolo.
The project of this church structure earned it a thorough study by Salvatore Italia and Ranieri Meloni, who advanced a theory that the architect could have been inspired by the <b>Temple of Solomon</b> of which there is no archeological documentation.
One of the most credible revivals of the Temple of Jerusalem is to be found in a publication by J.B. Villalpando and Jeronimo Prado, edited between 1596 and 1604.
The volumetric dimensions of the Church of Santa Lucia alla Badia correspond to those of the Temple of Jerusalem, as indicated in the Bible.
Apart from the uniqueness of the architectural structure, the Church also houses very valuable and important works of art.
The Church was connected to the Cistercian monastery nextdoor and dedicated to the miracle of the end of the famine of 1646 through the intercession of Santa Lucia, which is portrayed in the eighteenth century fresco "The Triumph of Santa Lucia" in the central vault of the nave.
10 The Bellomo Museum
Under the church there are three underground levels excavated by the Greeks: on the first level is the crypt of the church with 18th-century frescoes;
at the second level the underground network, fascinating underground labyrinth that connects the sacred places of the ancient Ortigia , used as a refuge during the Second World War;
at the lowest level a Greek well fed by a freshwater spring placed at 18 meters deep, probably used as mikveh, Jewish ritual bath and/or baptistry.
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The Crypt |
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The Hypogeum |
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The Bath |
A baptistery therefore of the beginnings of Christianity in the only place of Paleochristian cult where the characteristics of the site allowed the secrecy and the possibility to derive such element whose access is underground, far from the pagans' visibility.
In particular, this one inside the underground quarry of the church is an artifact used until years ago for Christian baptisms, where access to the source takes place through a beautiful snail staircase.
Finally reached Constantinian peace, Christians built on the site their first church, a typical service building that allowed access to the hypogeic chapel, important as it was equipped with the baptistry by immersion.
Subsequent works and refurbishments over the centuries, including the construction of a Byzantine church, have ended up making every trace of the ancient oratory unrecognizable.
The monumental complex includes the Church of St. Lucy extra-moenia, the Church of the Sepulchre and, underground, the Catacombs of St. Lucy.
From the real palimpsest that is the extra-moenia Church to the octagonal Temple of the Sepulchre, it will be a journey into Aretusan architecture since the Middle Ages.
It will reveal to the visitor an underground reality of great archaeological and cultural interest. The area is in fact affected not only by the famous pre-Constantine Christian cemetery (as early as 212 BC), but also by some private law hypogea attributable to the 3rd, 4th and 5th centuries.
Particularly relevant is the presence of the Byzantine Oratory of the Forty Martyrs with the beautiful frescoes of the vault.
Protected by the Church of the Sepulchre, the loculus of the patron saint of Syracuse originally included in the catacomb will be appreciable.
M.Minniti, Martyr of St. Lucy (Galleria Bellomo)
She is revered as a saint by the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church; is one of the seven virgins mentioned in the Roman canon.
Her mortal remains are kept in the Shrine of Lucia in Venice.
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Returning from the pilgrimage to the tomb of Saint Agatha, a martyr from Catania in 231, Lucia, seeing the saint in her dream and her mother Eutychia miraculously healed, decided to consecrate herself to Christ and to give her patrimony to the poor.
For the next three years, she lived in the service of the sick, needy, and widows of the city.
The pretender, seeing the desired Lucy deprived of all possessions and having been rejected by the latter, wanted revenge by denouncing her as a Christian. In fact, the decrees of the persecution of Christians issued by the Emperor Diocletian were in force.
12 The Burial of St. Lucy by Caravaggio
Author: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio
Date:1608
Technique: Oil on Canvas
Size: 408 x 300 cm
Syracuse is second only to Rome in importance and extension of the catacombs.
This underground cemetery is imposed for its complex morphology. The area is in fact affected not only by the Pre-costantinian Christian cemetery (already in 212 BC), but also by some hypogum of private law ascribable to the 3rd, 4th and 5th centuries.
Particularly important is the presence in its interior of the Byzantine Oratory (6th century) of the Forty Martyrs with the splendid frescoes of the vault, found by the archaeologist Paolo Orsi in 1916.
In the fifteenth century a large part of the hypogeum was irreparably destroyed to make room for a cistern and the frescoes covered by hydraulic mortar.
Also visible are the changes and alterations suffered by the funeral complex during the last world war with the construction of an air-raid shelter by the U.N.P.A. (National Union of Air Protection).
Procession of December 13th
At the trial she held in front of the prefect Pascasio, Lucia refused the order to sacrifice to the pagan gods, attesting her faith and pride in proclaiming herself Christian, citing the passages of the Scriptures.
Threatened then to be conducted in a brothel, Lucia replied: "The body is contaminated only if the soul agrees".
Pascasio then ordered that the young woman be forced by force, but, as tradition has it, it became miraculously heavy, so that neither dozens of men nor the strength of oxen succeeded in moving it.
Accused of witchcraft, Lucia was then sprinkled with oil, placed on wood and tortured with fire, but the flames did not touch her.
She was finally brought to her knees and finished with a sword by beheading, or according to Latin sources, a dagger was fixed in her throat (jugulatio), in the year 304 at the age of twenty-one.
He died only after receiving Communion and prophesied the fall of Diocletian and peace for the Church.
Devoid of any foundation and absent in the many narratives and traditions, at least until the fifteenth century, is the episode in which Lucia would have torn - or would have gouged out - her eyes.
The emblem of the eyes on the cup, or on the plate, would be to reconnect, more simply, with the popular devotion that has always invoked the protector of sight because of the etymology of its name from the Latin Lux, light.
14 The Shrine of Madonna of the tears
The Shrine of the Madonna delle Lacrime (Our Lady of Tears) emerges in the skyline of the city of Syracuse: a majestic religious building standing out with its inverted conical structure, reaching a height of 71.40 meters with a steel crowning of 20 meters. 20.
It was built in memory of the miracle occurred in 1953 (29 August-1 September), when a plaster plaque depicting the Virgin Mary placed in the house of a poor family, started to weep.
The Shrine, designed by the two French architects Michel Andrault and Pierre Parat winners of an international architecture competition, stands on a circular plan with a diameter of 80 m; it encloses the crypt (10m deep) completed in 1968, and the church above completed in 1994, when the sanctuary was consecrated by Pope John Paul II.
The dome made up of 22 reinforced concrete ribs, is built in a stylized form evoking a falling tear .
The interior consists of an immense open area of marble floor decorated with a star.14 The Miracle of
Via degli Orti
The testimonial video.
15 Adelphia's sarcophagus
P. Orsi Museum
The most important element of the sarcophagus is its refined decoration, there are scenes from the old and the new testament, the highlight being the Nativity which is considered the “oldest crib in the world”.
The tombstone’s cover
1. Scenes from Mary’s life.
There follows a scene of the preparation of Mary’s wedding while being assisted by two maids.Finally, in the last scene, one can see the Virgin coated lavishly, while sitting on the throne surrounded by other women ." (Source L'Osservatore Romano)
Some scholars have identified the Balerius with the Lucius Valerius Arcadius Proculus Populonius, consularis Siciliae in the years 325-330, considered, moreover, owner of the splendid villa of Piazza Armerina. In the ark was found the body of Adelfia alone, carefully placed on a slab of lead, perhaps to slow down the decomposition." (Source L'Osservatore Romano)
3. The oldest crib in the world
“On the left of the crib one can see the Wise Men who are carrying the gifts for the Baby, who is lying in a wicker basket in a shelter and warmed by the presence of a bull and a donkey. On the right one can see a shepherd to whom an Angel announces Christ’s birth. ( Luke 2 , 4 - 19) while the Virgin Mary is sitting on a jutting rock which is covered in straw." (Source L'Osservatore Romano)
CENTRAL REGISTRY
4.Imposition of work to Adam and Eve ( Genesis 3 , 16 - 19)
5. St. Peter’s denial ( Matthew, 26 , 34 ; Mark , 14 , 30 ; Luke , 22 , 34 ; John 13 , 38);
6. The healing of the hemorrhaging woman(from hemorroids) ( Mark , 5 , 25 - 35)
7. Moses receiving the Tables of Law (Exodus , 19)
CENTRAL REGISTRY
8. Carved seashell - shaped medallion with the spouses Adelphia and Valerio
9. Abraham sacrificing Isaac ( Genesis, 22, 1- 4);
10. The healing of the blind ( John, 9 , 1 - 41);
11. The multiplication of bread and fish ( Matthew, 14 , 19; Mark , 6, 41; Luke , 9 , 16 ; John , 6 , 1);
12. The resurrection of the son of the widow from Nain ( Luke, 7, 12 – 15)
13. The three young hebrews from Babylon ( Daniel , 3)
14. The wedding feast at Cana ( John, 2 , 2- 11)
15. The adoration of the Magi ( Matthew , 2 , 1 – 12)
16. The original sin ( Genesis , 3 , 1);
17. Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem ( Matthew , 21 , 1 -11)
16 St. Martian’s crypt
(S.John's church and catacombs)
Of notable importance is St. Martian’s crypt (Antioch in Syria), 1st. century A.D. – Syracuse) which is under the Church.
St. Martian, who was a disciple of St. Peter’s from Antioch, was sent by the latter in 39. A.D. to preach the Gospel and establish the first Christian community of the western world.
Martian is therefore considered the first western bishop because he arrived in Sicily when St. Peter the apostle was still in Antioch.
The hypogean crypt, following the Christian tradition, was built where St. Martian was buried, after being stoned to death because of his work in evangelizing Christianity.
It is very likely that St. Paul the apostle, who was visiting Syracuse for three days in 61 A.D., preached in the same crypt.
Inside the crypt is St. Martian’s tomb stone and in the centre there is an altar which is surrounded by four columns, also used by St. Paul the apostle.
The martyr’s body remained in the crypt for eight centuries until the Arabs conquered Syracuse in 878.
In order to secure the protobishop’s body, the inhabitants of Syracuse had the body moved to Greece, to the basilica of St. Theodore of Perasso in Achaia.
Today the Saint’s resting place is in Gaeta.
Four columns with shrines on which had been engraved the symbols of the evangelists and inscriptions from the Gospel were erected in Norman times.
16 Byzantine Art inside the crypt
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| St. John the Evangelist | St. Lucy |
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| St. John the Baptist | St. Martian’s fresco with the two figures of St. Martian and St. Lucy |
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| Fresco’s that illustrate St. Lucy, St. Martian, St. John the Baptist, St. Peter and St. Paul. | The remains of the flooring in opus sectile |
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One of the column’s capitals portraying the four evangelists built by the Normans. |
17 Christian's Damnatio
5) Damnatio The protagonists of these punishments were Christians, prisoners of war, deserters and criminals, people belonging to the very infamous part of the population.
The condemned could be killed either with the damnatio ad gladium or the damnatio ad bestias.
In the case of the punishment ad gladium, two people condemned to death would descend into the ring one was armed and the other one unarmed and the duel ended with the likely killing of the latter.
The condemned could also be burnt at the stake, beheaded, crucified and turned into human torches.
In the punishment ad bestias the condemned were mauled by the wild animals who were made more ferocious by being fed with human meat and kept starving for many days.
The success of the morning spectacles was due to the emphasis given on the ferocity and the bloodshed.
The damnatio ad bestias was the cause of the death of many Christian martyrs between the 1st and the 2nd century A.D.
The church, which retains all the charm of Norman severity, has a single aisle with the door that opens on its side.
In 1093, the funeral of Jordan, the son of Ruggero d'Altavilla, was held there.
In the early Christian and Byzantine times the hypogeic environment was used as a church, while in more recent times (the 17th century) it was also a place of municipal burial.
Beneath it is the so-called Roman Pool, a large water tanks obtained by cutting the stone of the side.
These natural water pipes served the Syracusans in ancient Rome era to provide plenty of water to the amphitheatre, and may have been used to fill the Roman amphitheatre of Syracuse with water for aquatic struggles.
Roman swimming pool
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PLATONE VISITS SIRACUSA
Plato visits Sicily on several occasions from 388 BC to 360 BC, initially driven by the desire to visit Mount Etna and its craters. Dionysius I the tyrant ,informed of his visit, invited him to court where the philosopher met the Syracusan nobleman Dione, a collaborator of Dionysius who became his disciple. when Plato attacked the tyranny with his words, provoking the wrath of the tyrant , it was Dione who saved the master by rushing him to Athens, although that journey ended with the enslavement of the philosopher to Egina.
In 367 BC, Plato returned to Sicily invited by Dione to educate his nephew Dionysius II new successor to the throne, with the aim of making him a king-philosopher; however, the political situation plummeted: Dione was exiled, Plato's reformation suitable for the establishment of the ideal state was nullified.
He last went to Syracuse in 361 BC with the aim of carrying out a peaceful mediation between Dionysius II and Dione, but he failed in his intent. He was able to return to Athens thanks to the intervention of the Pythagoreans of Taranto who interceded in his favor with the tyrant. Returning to his homeland, he witnessed from afar Dione's military expedition of 357 BC against the Syracuse tyranny.
It is claimed that the reminiscences of his travels had a significant cultural impact in his literary production: works such as the Symposium, the Laws and Dialogues on Atlantis, they would come from the experience of the Athenian philosopher in Sicily.
THE 4 PHILOSOPHICAL PROBLEMS
1) The Archè (principle, origin), a term whose use dates back to the early philosophical tradition. The Ionic school designates with the name of Archè the primordial substance derivative of all things .
2) Gnoseology, Philosophical discipline that studies the limits of knowledge, its potential, its criteria and justifications, the nature of truth, the existence of the outside world, skepticism in general and relativism.
3) Ethics, study of rational foundations that allow to assign a deontological status to human behaviors , in order to distinguish them in good, fair, lawful, compared to behaviors considered unfair, illicit, unseemly or bad according to an ideal behavioral model.
4) Ontology,By ontology is understood, in a narrow sense, the study of Being as a whole of institutions, limited to what seems to exist in practice or even be just thinkable, therefore according to what would seem attested by the senses or psyche. In a broader sense we mean an investigation into Being beyond the entities through which it manifests itself in appearances and phenomena: the search for Being or their ultimate foundation.
Greetings to the Sun
For those who want to take advantage of the energy present in this area can go to the bastion San Giovannello, overlooking the sea of the east and in the air line right forward the entrance of the temple; alternatively another convenient area is the wide clearing above the Talete car park, beside the bastion.
To reach both places take the Apollonion route (next to the temple) and continue on via Resalibera; arrived at the end turn left on via V. Veneto and immediately to the right to get to the sea. Once on the promenade, head to the left where to your right you will find first the fort and then the Talete.
The sacrificial animals were carried in procession by players, children and maidens in white and garlanded dresses of flowers, until the temple, where the priest among wine libations, prayers, purifying rites, incense and scents of all kinds, to the sound of the flute and lyre poured on the head of the victim honey wine and lustral water, raised prayers of thanks, praise or supplication to the divinity, and then slaughtered the victim.
The sacrificed was cut into pieces and thrown on the sacred fire. Banquets followed in which the faithful ate the flesh of the sacrificed animal: during such banquets, it was also believed that the deity was even participating as a guest of honor.
Dionysus and the origin of theatre
The Youth Of Bacchus, By William-adolphe Bouguereau.
The origin of the Greek theatre should be rooted in the rituals to honor Dionysus, in which dance and music played an essential role.
According to Aristotle, the tragedy originated from "dithyramb", a choral song in honor of Dionysus performed under the inspiration of wine, which was sung by a group of dancing satyrs led by a corypheus (head of the choir), to worship the god.
In the orgiastic cult of Dionysus, the God was worshipped through compulsive dithyrambic dances, in order to reach an ecstatic state, overcoming the individual self to connect to the true self, where vital impulse originates.
The dithyramb was a choral poetic composition, where poetry, music and dance were mixed together.
The orgiastic dances were performed in a circle by dancers crowned with garlands, through rythmic and ecstatic movements.
The coryphaeus represented Dionysus himself, while the chorutians (choristers) accompanied him with lamentations and jubilant songs.
According to the tradition the figure of the actor singing in the dithyramb (originated in the 7th century BC in Corinth area) created a more intense atmosphere.
The theatrical representation, as we know it today, must have been originated from it.
The Odissey’s Mermaids
Photo: © www.plemmirio.eu
In the 12th book, between the verses 39-46, Homer describes the song of the Mermaid’s living on an island full of putrefacting bodies:
You shall come before us, the Mermaids, who enchant all men who are drawn to our sound.He, who unaware, approaches us, the Mermaids, feeling at home, and listening to our voice, shall never see his wife or children again.
We, the Mermaids, spread out on green meadows, enchant with the limpid sound of our voices,
All around are a bunch of bones, shrivelled and putrefacting human bodies.
Here is the passage from the Odissey, verses 184-188:
Reach out to us Odysseus, greatest glory of the Acheians, halt your vessel and listen to our voices.
No one has ever crossed us, with his dark vessel, without stopping to listen to the sound of honey in our voices and infact leaving afterwards replenished with joy and knowledge.
The statue which is on the seabed of plemmirio represents the freediving world champion Rossana Maiorca who died prematurely.
ARCHIMEDES FROM SYRACUSE
Archimedes 287 - 212 BC considered the greatest mathematician of antiquity and one of the greatest of all time was also physicist, engineer, inventor and astronomer; he studied the principles of hydrostatics, statics, explained the principle of lever, designed the screw pump that bears his name, he designed machines capable of lifting enemy ships out of the water and setting them on fire using a series of mirrors, he was able to calculate the surface and volume of the sphere, understood the laws that govern the buoyancy of the bodies, he exhibited a method by which to approximate as much as possible the ratio which today is indicated by π. The exclamation Eureka!I found it! is a famous one over the centuries and attributed to him. Archimedes died in 212 BC during the Second Punic War when Roman forces under General Marcus Claudius Marcellus captured the city of Syracuse after a two-year siege. According to Plutarch's popular account Archimedes was killed because he refused the command of a Roman soldier to follow him, he had to complete the resolution of a problem he was working on.
ARCHIMEDES LOST PALIMPSEST
The biblical scholar Konstantin Von Tischendorf was intrigued by Greek mathematical marks visible on the schedule found in a Greek Orthodox library in Constantinople and took home a sheet (which is now in the Library of the University of Cambridge ). In 1899 the Greek scholar Papadopoulos-Kerameus produced a catalogue of library manuscripts that included a transcription of several lines of partially visible text below. After examining these lines Johan Ludvig Heiberg, the world authority on Archimedes, realized that it was a piece of a work by the Syracusan mathematician. When Heiberg studied the schedule in Constantinople in 1906, he confirmed that it included works by Archimedes that were believed to have been lost. Heiberg was allowed to take very detailed photographs of the pages of the schedule, producing transcripts published between 1910 and 1915 in a complete edition of Archimedes. Shortly after the original text of Archimedes in Byzantine Greek was translated into English by Thomas Little Heath. Before that, he was not well known among mathematicians, physicists or historians. The manuscript disappeared from the library during the Greek-Turkish War of 1919-1922.Between 1923 and 1930 it was purchased by Marie Louis Sirieix, a businessman who bought it illegally from a monk. The manuscript was then sold in 1998 by Christie's auction house for 2 million dollars to an anonymous buyer.
there was Aretusa, the sacred nymph to Artemide, the goddess of hunting to whom she had vowed her chastity.
The myth relates that on a very hot day, the nymph was in a forest in Greece feeling tired and overheated and therefore decided to bath herself in the refreshing and inviting waters of the river.
Aretusa removes her robes and swims in the river.
A young hunter by the name of Alfeo, a demigod, son of Oceano, happens to be walking in the vicinity and drawn by the sounds, approaches the river and remains enchanted by the nymphs beauty.
The Myth
DECADRACHM of the Syracusan Mint.
Aretusa's head in profile, around dolphins.
Attributed to engraver Euainetos, 390 BC- Museum P. Orsi.
The large silver decadrachm (10-drachm) coin from Syracuse is regarded by many collectors as the finest coin produced in the ancient world, perhaps ever.
The chase continues in the forest until the nymph, worn out, invokes her Goddess Artemide’s protection.
The Goddess in order to help her escape her pursuer, transforms the maiden into a spring which rises in the faraway islet of Ortigia.
Aretusa disappears from Alfeo’s sight and the latter lost and bewildered, gathers his energies and invoking Zeus asks him help.
The God transforms him into a river but, playing him a dirty trick, he makes him flow into Greece and not into Sicily.
Alfeo won’t give up, and for the sake of reaching his beloved one, passing under the seas of Greece and Sicily to avoid mixing with the sea’s salty waters, after a long and strenuous journey under the seas he reaches the Great Port of Siracusa. ⤏
A creepy and
virtuous God
Apollo, son of Zeus and Leto, artemis's twin is the summer sun god whose scorching rays dry the vegetation; hence the ancient conception of Apollo, evil deity, executor of revenge. Divinity of medicine, mantic, cathartic, agriculture, but mainly god of poetry and as such surrounded by the 9 Muses who dance and sing in choir in his honor.
Detail of "Apollo of the Belvedere", Roman copy of hellenistic age (350 BC), Vatican Museums.
Apollo, also called "Phoebus", shiny, radiant, is the identification to the world of Light and all-encompassing lighting related to the sun's rays.
As with the other great deities, Apollo loved many women including Daphne and also the two young men Hyacinth and Cyparissus. Apollo had many children, perhaps the most famous being Orpheus, who inherited his father's musical abilities and became a virtuoso with the lyre, and Asclepius, to whom he gave his knowledge of healing and medicine.
Its typical attributes are the bow, with its portentous arrows, and the cithern. Another characteristic emblem is the sacrificial tripod, a symbol of his prophetic powers.
Sacred animals to the god are swans (symbol of beauty), wolves, cicadas (to symbolize music and singing), and again the hawks, crows, dolphins, in which often the god loved to transform, and snakes, the latter with reference to his orcular powers.
And again the rooster, as a symbol of homosexual love, different in fact the men of whom the God fell in love. Another symbol of Apollo is the Griffon, a mythological animal of distant Eastern origin.
The Muses, deities, were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosine (the "Memory") and represented the supreme ideal of Art. Their guide was Apollo.
The typical trait of the Muses is that of deities of singing and playful dances, and in such capacity are often represented in poetry while putting in music and verse stories such as the origin of the world, the birth of gods and men, the exploits of Zeus. In the oldest representations, related to vascular painting, they appear as accompanied by the various instruments.
Only later, in addition to the joy of dance, singing and music, were all the singing and musical expressions, including sad and funeral expressions, associated with them, so that they could be invoked individually to exercise their inspiration and protection.
The nine Muses according to the order of Hesiodo described in the Theogony :
I Clio: "she who makes famous", the muse of History and epic singing.
II Euterpe:"she who cheers", the muse of lyrical poetry and music.
III Thalia: "she who is festive", the muse of comedy.
IV Melpomene: "she who sings", the muse of Tragedy, in close relations with Dionysus.
V Terpsichore: "she who delights in dance", the muse of Dance and Choral lyric.
VI Erato: "she who causes desire", the muse of Love Poetry, choral singing, mimicry and geometry.
VII Polyhymnia: "she who has many hymns", the muse of Mimo, sacred singing and ritual dance. She is also associated with rhetoric, memory, history and geometry.
VIII Urania: "she who is celestial", the muse of astronomy, geometry and didactic epic.
IX Calliope: "she who has a beautiful voice", the muse of Elegy and epic poetry. She is Homer's inspiration for the Odyssey and the Iliad, and Dante's inspiration for the Divine Comedy too. She is the greater of the muses and the wisest.
The Mythological Goddess
Along with Athena and Estia, she was a virgin goddess, armed with bows and golden arrows, dwelled in the woods with her reliable hunting dogs and with a bevy of nymphs.
As a goddess of "the bow and arrow" she represents the ability of women to achieve their goals, even through the use of the right aggression.
As Apollo was later identified with the Sun, artemis was identified with the Moon, revered under the three forms corresponding to the three lunar phases (Selene in the sky, Artemis on earth and Hecate in the underworld).
Artemis is the power of creation, it is invoked by the birthers to assure them of an easy birth or a quick death, women found relief in the belief that she assisted them. It represents the wild and hysteria side of childbirth and helps to free it.
It also represents the violent transition of the separation of the newborn from the uterus and the mother from the child that takes place at the time of childbirth.
It represents that particular confidence with the unconscious that women have with their "inner forest", that state of grace that makes them "virgin", one in itself, and the fury that women express and feel at the time of childbirth that makes them fearsome and venerable.
Gorgon found during the excavations of the temple of Athena, housed at P. Orsi. museum .
It had snakes nestled in its hair, teeth like fangs of boar, bronze hands and wings.
He also had the power to turn men and gods into stone with his eyes; except for Poseidon with whom he conceived Pegasus and Crisaore.
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Statue found by the river, probably the nymph Cyane. P. Orsi Museum |
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Demeter, the goddess of agriculture ,(known as the Roman Ceres), mother of Persephone; P. Orsi Museum |
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Persephone, (the equivalent Proserpina for the Romans) also referred to as Kore, maiden, the queen of the Underworld. P.Orsi Museum |
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Hades (Pluto for the Romans) the king of the Underworld: Aidone Museum |
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Anapos; the river-god, lover of the nymph Cyane. |
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Hermes (the Roman Mercury) the messenger of the Gods. He brought Persephone back to her mother: Ancient Agora Museum, Athens |
Photo: The rape of Proserpina. Gian Lorenzo Bernini Carrara marble, 1621-22 Borghese Art Gallery, Rome
18 Greek Theatre
History
Théatre de Syracuse, end sec. 18th
The Greek Theater started to spark interest since the 16th century, when it was used for the creation of several water mills, built under the Spanish domination.
In the 18th and 19th centuries it was the subject for the paintings of many foreigner travelers.
The first excavation essays were carried out in the mid-18th century and continued into the following century. The first excavation tests were carried out in the mid-eighteenth century until the following century.
The Greek Theater of Syracuse is one of the largest in the world.
The most striking thing is the technique used to build it: the cavea still visible today, was chiseled in the midst of the soft Miocene limestone along an ancient south-facing shore.
The construction, based on the project of the architect Damòkopos, was carried out by highly specialized workers by using hammer and chisel, creating that particular and intimate combination between natural and monumental elements, typical of Greek architecture.
The existence of a theater in Syracuse is already attested by the end of the 5th century BC by the mime author Sophron, who mentions the name of the architect Damòkopos, called "Myrilla" because he used to rub ointments, such as myrrh, at the inauguration of monuments as a good luck ritual.
The Theatre's structure
When the theater was built, it could host up to 15,000 spectators.
The cavea consists of 9 sectors with 8 vertical ladders and a diàzoma, a pathway that divides it into two parts. The shape is specially designed to preserve acoustics, perfect in all Greek theaters.
At the opposite side, to the west, we can read the names of Hieron, Queen Philistis (wife of Hieron), Queen Nereid (daughter of Pyrrhus and daughter-in-law of Hieron). Thanks to the mentioned names it is possible to date the inscriptions between 238 and 215 BC.
Inscriptions were probably made to facilitate the access of the spectators and to indicate the actual Hellenistic phase of the theater .
Recent archaeological investigations have shown it was probably built at the end of the 5th century BC. -
In the stage we can only see the foundations of the scenic building standing on the two pillars on the left and right side.
On the sides there are two access corridors for the actors, dug in the open air.
The actors stood in front of the scene building while the chorus had reserved space: the orchestra (coming from the Greek verb orkeomai, meaning “to dance”) where the choreutans danced, sang and played musical instruments.
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The Caryatids (decorative columns) supported the weight of the logheion, the raised stage of the Greek Theater of Syracuse. (P. Orsi Museum) . |
For this reason, two L-shaped galleries were opened under the first two sectors of the theater.
The Romans modified the structure making it more suitable for their comedies.
They must have also placed a tank on the orchestra, using for water games with crocodiles and amphibian animals.
The theater is a precious monument of extraordinary archaeological, artistic and cultural value and it has been used since 1914.
After two thousand five hundred years, the magic of classical perfomances is still alive, thanks to the National Institute of Ancient Drama (I.N.D.A).
Every year from May to June you can come to the Greek Theatre in Syracuse and witness tragedies and comedies of universal significance, for which theater companies of declared fame are engaged.
The Nympheus cave
At the entrance of the cave, there were statues dedicated to the Muses, three of which (dated to the 2nd century BC) are exhibited at the Paolo Orsi Regional Archaeological Museum.
Next to the entrance wall there are votive niches (Pìnakes) used in the practice of Hero Cults.
The Syracusan Nymphaeum is thought to have been the ancient seat of the Mouseion (the sanctuary of the muses), the seat of the guild of artists, where the Syracusan actors used to gather before going down to the theater to perform their comedies or tragedies at the time of Epicarmos and Aeschylus .
Women washing clothes, By Jean Hoüel , Grand Tour XVII Century.
The road of sepulchres
By walking through the road, is possible to see the high rocky walls surrounding it on both sides and the votive shrines that have been dug out along the way, dedicated to the "Heroes",or rather "Deceased".
Those who had distinguished themselves in life, deserved to be "heroized", honored and revered as mortal heroes used to be venerated.
It was a real open-air art gallery.
At the end of the Via dei Sepolcri there is an hollow considered of great value: it represents the cult of the Dioscuri (Zeu's sons) on horseback and Triptolemus (King of Eleusis) on the chariot pulled by snakes.
In the Via dei Sepolcri we can also see hypogea dating from the Byzantine period : that reveals what the site was used for even after the Siceliot era.
The deep grooves left by the wagons while going to the water mills built in the Spanish period, show how much this road must have been popular in different periods over the centuries.
Dionysus and the origin of theatre
The Youth Of Bacchus, By William-adolphe Bouguereau.
The origin of the Greek theatre should be rooted in the rituals to honor Dionysus, in which dance and music played an essential role.
According to Aristotle, the tragedy originated from "dithyramb", a choral song in honor of Dionysus performed under the inspiration of wine, which was sung by a group of dancing satyrs led by a corypheus (head of the choir), to worship the god.
In the orgiastic cult of Dionysus, the God was worshipped through compulsive dithyrambic dances, in order to reach an ecstatic state, overcoming the individual self to connect to the true self, where vital impulse originates.
The dithyramb was a choral poetic composition, where poetry, music and dance were mixed together.
The orgiastic dances were performed in a circle by dancers crowned with garlands, through rythmic and ecstatic movements.
The coryphaeus represented Dionysus himself, while the chorutians (choristers) accompanied him with lamentations and jubilant songs.
According to the tradition the figure of the actor singing in the dithyramb (originated in the 7th century BC in Corinth area) created a more intense atmosphere.
The theatrical representation, as we know it today, must have been originated from it.
Fresco from the House of Masks - Solunto Sicily- I Cent. BC.
The mask had a "magical" function: it transformed the one who wore it into another being.
The masks had very strong facial features: weeping in dramas and smiling in comedies.
They served to represent the character the actor was playing, hiding therefore his individuality.
Having to play multiple roles, including female ones, the actor needed to wear the mask in order to be able to impersonate a character at best allowing, at the same time, the spectators to easily recognize the different characters.
The mask had the purpose to amplify the actor's voice functioning as a megaphone.
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The mask of Silenus : mythological figure and minor deity of the woods, connected with the Centaurs, he had a wild nature and was also called Papposileno. |
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Terracotta Comedy Mask (4th century), Agora Museum in Athens. |
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Dionysium Mask, Louvre Museum |
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Tragedy Mask from Megara, Greece |
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Mask from Megara, Sicily: The city that host the Syracusan poet Epicharmus, originator of the Athenian comedy. |
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Theatrical mask representing the first slave in the new Comedy (2nd century B.C.) , Archeological National Museum , Athens. 2nd centuryBC. , National Archaeological Museum of Athens |
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Comic Mask, Terme Museum, Rome |
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The perfect Young Man [pánchrestos neanìskos] is reddish, sporty, quite tanned, his hair have the shape of a crown and his eyebrows are raised. |
Classical Plays
5th Century BC - Today
Every year, from May to July, I.N.D.A. selects classical plays of the most famous playwrights and tragendians:
☞ INDA interprets the most famous classical works of great playwrights and tragediographers:
SOPHOCLES ESCHYLUSE EURIPIDE
ARISTOPHANES SENECA
SOPHOCLES
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BY EURIPIDES |
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BY ARISTOPHANES |
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BY EURIPIDES |
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MEDEA by SENECA |
Medea, in Greek mythology, an enchantress who helped Jason, leader of the Argonauts, to obtain the Golden Fleece from her father, King Aeëtes of Colchis.
She was of divine descent and had the gift of prophecy. She married Jason and used her magic powers and advice to help him.
In one version, when they fled and were pursued by Aeëtes, Jason, in conspiracy with Medea, cut her brother Apsyrtus to pieces and threw him into the sea to delay the pursuit.
The Medea of Euripides takes up the story at a later stage, after Jason and Medea had fled Colchis with the fleece and had been driven out of Iolcos because of the vengeance taken by Medea on King Pelias of Iolcos (who had sent Jason to fetch the fleece).
The play is set during the time that the pair lived in Corinth, when Jason deserted Medea for the daughter of King Creon of Corinth; in revenge, Medea murdered Creon, his daughter, and her own two sons by Jason and took refuge with King Aegeus of Athens, having escaped from Corinth in a cart drawn by dragons sent by her grandfather Helios.
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OEDIPUS REX by SOPHOCLES |
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THE ORESTEIA by AESCHYLUS |
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SOPHOCLES |
The goddess Hera creates a ghost in all similar to Helen and sends it to Troy with Paride, while the true Helen is hidden by Hermes in Egypt as guest of King Proteus. On the death of Proteus, the Teocliman son undermines Elena, who rejects him, partly because the sister of Teoclimeno, the priestess Teonoe (able to see the future), has predicted that he will see her husband Menelaus. Elena is thinking of her sad fate when she sees the Greek messenger Teucro arrive. (PHOTO and PLOT by INDA)
Lysistrata, summoning the women of Athens and other cities, including the Lampitò Spartan, to discuss an important problem: because of the Peloponnesian war, the men of the Greek polis are perpetually engaged in fighting and no longer have the time to be with their women. Lysistrata proposes to all of them to do a sex strike: until men sign the peace, they will refuse to have sex with their men.(PHOTO and PLOT BY INDA)
After a long war, the city of Troy is defeated. The Trojan men were slaughtered and the women assigned as slaves to the winners. Cassandra is given to Agamemnon, Andromache to Neoptolemus and Ecuba to Odysseus. Andromache suffers a terrible fate: Astianatte, the son of Ettore, is killed by the Greeks to prevent one day from avenging his father’s death. Hecuba and Helena find themselves in a sort of judicial agony, to establish the responsibilities of the outbreak of war. Meanwhile, the little body of Astianatte is returned to Hecuba for the funeral rite. Troy is given to the flames while the prisoners greet their city for the last time. (PHOTO and PLOT INDA)
Medea, in Greek mythology, an enchantress who helped Jason, leader of the Argonauts, to obtain the Golden Fleece from her father, King Aeëtes of Colchis. She was of divine descent and had the gift of prophecy. She married Jason and used her magic powers and advice to help him. In one version, when they fled and were pursued by Aeëtes, Jason, in conspiracy with Medea, cut her brother Apsyrtus to pieces and threw him into the sea to delay the pursuit. The Medea of Euripides takes up the story at a later stage, after Jason and Medea had fled Colchis with the fleece and had been driven out of Iolcos because of the vengeance taken by Medea on King Pelias of Iolcos (who had sent Jason to fetch the fleece). The play is set during the time that the pair lived in Corinth, when Jason deserted Medea for the daughter of King Creon of Corinth; in revenge, Medea murdered Creon, his daughter, and her own two sons by Jason and took refuge with King Aegeus of Athens, having escaped from Corinth in a cart drawn by dragons sent by her grandfather Helios. After fleeing Corinth, Medea became the wife of Aegeus, who later drove her away after her unsuccessful attempt to poison his son Theseus. The Greek historian Herodotus related that from Athens Medea went to the region of Asia subsequently called Media, whose inhabitants thereupon changed their name to Medes. Medea also is the heroine of Seneca’s Medea, a tragedy based on Euripides’ drama, and a number of modern settings, including plays by the 19th-century Austrian dramatist Franz Grillparzer and the 20th-century French playwright Jean Anouilh and operas by the Italian-French composer Luigi Cherubini (1797) and the French composer Darius Milhaud (1939).
(Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Oedipus Rex, (Latin: “Oedipus the King”) Greek Oidipous Tyrannos, play by Sophocles, performed sometime between 430 and 426 BCE, that marks the summit of classical Greek drama’s formal achievement, known for its tight construction, mounting tension, and perfect use of the dramatic devices of recognition and discovery. It examines the story of Oedipus, who, in attempting to flee from his fate, rushes headlong to meet it. At the outset of the play, Oedipus is the beloved ruler of the city of Thebes, whose citizens have been stricken by a plague. Consulting the Delphic oracle, Oedipus is told that the plague will cease only when the murderer of Queen Jocasta’s first husband, King Laius, has been found and punished for his deed. Oedipus resolves to find Laius’s killer. His investigation turns into an obsessive reconstruction of his own hidden past when he discovers that the old man he killed when he first approached Thebes as a youth was none other than Laius. At the end, Jocasta hangs herself in shame, and the guilt-stricken Oedipus blinds himself. In Sophocles’ later play Oedipus at Colonus (produced posthumously 401 BCE; Oidipous epi Kolōnō), the blind, aged Oedipus has spent many years wandering in exile. When he arrives at a sacred grove, he is guaranteed protection by Theseus, the noble king of Athens. He ultimately departs to a mysterious death at Colonus, a village near Athens, where he will become a benevolent source of defense to the land that has given him final refuge. The play is remarkable for its melancholy and beauty, the power of its lyric odes, and its majestic characterization of Oedipus.
(Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica)
Oresteia, trilogy of tragic dramas by the ancient Greek dramatist Aeschylus, first performed in 458 BCE. It is his last work and the only complete trilogy of Greek dramas that has survived. The Oresteia tells the story of the house of Atreus. The first play, Agamemnon, portrays the victorious return of that king from the Trojan War and his murder by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover, Aegisthus. At the play’s end Clytemnestra and her lover rule Árgos. The work has extraordinary, sustained dramatic and poetic power. Particularly notable are the fascinating richness of Clytemnestra’s deceitful words and the striking choral songs, which raise in metaphorical and often enigmatic terms the major themes—of theology, politics, and blood relationships—that are elaborated throughout the trilogy. The second play, Choephoroi (Libation Bearers), takes its title from the chorus of women servants who come to pour propitiatory offerings at the tomb of the murdered Agamemnon. It details the revenge of Agamemnon’s daughter Electra and his son, Orestes. The siblings together invoke the aid of the dead Agamemnon in their plans. Orestes then slays Aegisthus, but Orestes’ subsequent murder of Clytemnestra is committed reluctantly, at the god Apollo’s bidding. Orestes’ attempts at self-justification then falter, and he flees, guilt-wracked, maddened, and pursued by the female incarnations of his mother’s curse, the Furies (Erinyes). The third play, Eumenides, opens at the shrine of Apollo at Delphi, where Orestes has taken sanctuary from the Furies. At the command of the Delphic oracle, Orestes journeys to Athens to stand trial for his matricide. There the goddess Athena organizes a trial with a jury of citizens. The Furies are his accusers, Apollo his advocate. The jury is evenly divided in its vote, and Athena casts the tie-breaking vote for Orestes’ acquittal. The Furies then turn their vengeful resentment against the city itself, but Athena persuades them, in return for a home and cult, to bless Athens instead and reside there as the Eumenides (“Kind Goddesses”) of the play’s title. The trilogy thus ends with the cycle of retributive bloodshed closed and supplanted by the rule of law and the justice of the state.
(Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica)
As in Aeschylus’ Libation Bearers, the action in Electra (Greek Ēlektra) follows the return of Orestes to kill his mother, Clytemnestra, and her lover Aegisthus in retribution for their murder of Orestes’ father, Agamemnon. In this play, however, the main focus is on Orestes’ sister Electra and her anguished participation in her brother’s plans. To gain admittance to the palace and thus be able to execute his revenge, Orestes spreads false news of his own death. Believing this report, the despairing Electra unsuccessfully tries to enlist her sister Chrysothemis in an attempt to murder their mother. In a dramatic scene, Orestes then enters in disguise and hands Electra the urn that is supposed to contain his own ashes. Moved by his sister’s display of grief, Orestes reveals his true identity to her and then strikes down his mother and her lover. Electra’s triumph is thus complete. In the play Electra is seen passing through the whole range of human emotions—from passionate love to cruel hatred, from numb despair to wild joy. There is debate over whether the play depicts virtue triumphant or, rather, portrays a young woman incurably twisted by years of hatred and resentment.
(Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica)
21 Priolo Marshes
and Thapsos
Today , despite the area is industrialized, 216 species of birds have been recorded.
In 2008 the reserve won the national award "Most Beautiful Oasis of Italy" of the birdwatching association EBN Italy.
There is a beautiful beach equipped with shores and the nearby peninsula of Manghisi (500 meters) is an ancient prehistoric settlement of the Thapsos civilization.
The Reserve, an oasis among industries.
The Beach
A civilization called Thapsos
Manghisi Tower
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Flying animals
(Photo: Salvo Cannizzaro).
The reserve is a resting area, nesting and wintering for a large number of bird species:
more than half of the species in Sicily and about 40% of those found in Italy have been observed.
The birds varies depending on the seasons:
In the summer-autumn period, the reserve is the resting place of numerous migratory species with populations of a few thousand specimens,
while in winter the reserve is the wintering site of several other species.
it is a shy bird that walks through the aquatic vegetation giving tail strokes at every step it takes.
The sultan swims well and often climbs trees, looking for food or to pass the night.
Rare species
Sightings
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Gray heron (Photo: Omar-Runòlfsson) |
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Little grebe |
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Great crested grebe (Photo: Marek-Szczepanek) |
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Redshank (Photo: Andreas-Trepte) |
Sightings
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The ferruginous duck (Photo: Erbanor) |
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Little egret (Photo: Andreas-Trepte) |
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Flamingoes (Photo: Estormiz) |
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Pied avocet (Photo: Erbanor) |
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Eurasian teal (Photo: Steve-Garvie) |
Thapsos
and the eponymous center for the so-called Thapsos Culture that in Sicily is identified as the middle Bronze Age. (14th century BC)
The site was ideal as a landing place from the sea due to the presence of two gulfs to the north and south of the isthm, immediately becoming an important trading center of the Mediterranean and with exchanges with polis such as Micene.
Thapsos is particularly well known for the finds of finds of Aegean origin (micenea and Cypriot in particular) that demonstrate commercial relations between the Aegean and Sicily.
Findings of the culture of Borg in-Nadur also testify the relations with the Maltese archipelago.
The exhibits from the Thapsos excavations are on display at the "P. Orsi" Museum in Syracuse.
Also at Thapsos, the Athenian army camped out before besieging Syracuse during the Peloponnesian War (415-413 BC) and fortifying the landing.
The necropolis
The bodies were buried with their funeral kit, the graves excavated a few meters from the coast and facing the sea, near the lighthouse of Magnisi,
they have a channel for the outflow of water that inevitably, during the strong storm surges, ended up lapping or covering the burial plate (in stone or wood) at the closure of the same tomb.
This is probably the most important feature of the coastal necropolis of thapsos. The channels are still visible.
In the central area of the peninsula was found a necropolis with burials called "enchytrismòs" where the inhumts were placed without kit in corded ovoid vessels (pithoi) and placed in natural concaviousness of the rock.
Thapsos Hut
Excavations have identified the foundations of buildings belonging to two different phases.
The oldest of the 14th-13th century. B.C. with large circular huts built on the base by dry stone walls and then supported by roofs and walls of wood, straw and clay.
In the next phase the buildings became rectangular often collected from wings around cobbled courtyards.
The village was defended by a fortification with semi-circular towers with a diameter of 5 m arranged at regular intervals.
The design of Thapsos
From the necropolis and from the hut comes the typical gray ceramic with shapes such as cups on high foot, faired tub cups and basins with triangular plate.
Engraved geometric patterns decorate the surfaces, in some cases enlivened by the insertion of representations of birds and fish, by the accurate naturalistic yield.
Biansato globular vase decorated with engravings with bird figure. Facies by Thapsos XV-XIII century BC
The grandiose careted basin elevated on very high tubular foot and provided with a large loop with a plate
Thapsos culture's ceramics
Sketches of the finds of the archaeologist Luigi Bernabò Brera , Edition: Sicily before the Greeks, 1960.
Indigenous jewelry
Bone necklace
Amber necklace
Bone necklace
Magnisi Hammer Tower
The tower is part of the "Hammer Towers" type, inspired by circular fortresses, part of the great Genoa defensive system at Cape of the Mortelles in Corsica.
The British were impressed by the effectiveness of the towers against their most modern warships and copied the design. The name of the tower, due to a spelling error, changed from "Mortella" to "Hammer".
Since the 15th century such towers have been built at strategic points on the coast of Corsica to protect coastal villages and maritime traffic from North African pirates.
They were composed of one or two floors and had a diameter of about twelve to fifteen meters, with a single entrance located five meters from the ground reachable via a removable staircase.
The outpost was tasked with signaling the approach of unknown ships by lighting a fire on the top of the tower.
14 Shrine of tears
Reasons to visit it: The shrine houses the glazed plaster effigy of the Madonna who wept for 4 days in August 1953; it is located behind the main altar of the shrine.
The Shrine of the Madonna delle Lacrime (Our Lady of Tears) emerges in the skyline of the city of Syracuse: a majestic religious building standing out with its inverted conical structure, reaching a height of 71.40 meters with a steel crowning of 20 meters. 20.
It was built in memory of the miracle occurred in 1953 (29 August-1 September), when a plaster plaque depicting the Virgin Mary placed in the house of a poor family, started to weep.
The Shrine, designed by the two French architects Michel Andrault and Pierre Parat winners of an international architecture competition, stands on a circular plan with a diameter of 80 m; it encloses the crypt (10m deep) completed in 1968, and the church above completed in 1994, when the sanctuary was consecrated by Pope John Paul II.
The dome made up of 22 reinforced concrete ribs, is built in a stylized form evoking a falling tear .
The interior consists of an immense open area of marble floor decorated with a star.
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A gilded bronze statue depicting the Virgin Mary built by the sculptor Francesco Cantarella, has been put on the top of the building inside a golden sunburst. |
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The internal vertical windows stretching skyward to the apex of the roof, create an astonishing effect. |
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The glazed plaster effigy of the Weeping Madonna is placed behind the main altar of the Sanctuary. |
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From 29 August to 1 September 1953 the plaster image of the Blessed Mother placed above the bed of a newlywed couple, shed human tears. |
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During the days of the Lachrymation, miracles occurred among the thousands of faithful who rushed up to the city. |
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The sanctuary was consecrated and inaugurated on November 6, 1994 by Pope John Paul II. |
The testimonial video.
Insights: Madonninadellelacrime.it
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St. John's Basilica
S. Marciano's Crypt
The Crypta’s byzantine art
The Catacombes
Adelphia’s Sarcophagus
The most ancient crib in the world
The 6th century basilica was destroyed by the Saracens and rebuilt by the Normans in the 12th century, it became Syracusa’s cathedral until the earthquake in 1693. The cathedral was rebuilt in the 17th century with baroque influences and recycled parts of the 4th Century and then left to ruin after the earthquake of 1908.
On the Cathedral’s site, during the classical age, there was a quarry which was used as a pottery workshop in the Hellenistic age. The Cathedral became a Christian cemetery in the late imperial age and remained as such until 423.
The Church has three single naves divided by twelve doric columns (in reference to the apostles) which were removed from a nearby pagan temple in byzantine times.
The Church was built on St. Martian’s crypt so that the Saint’s burial was on the same level as the altar which was in the centre of the nave. ⤏
In 878 A.D. during the Arab siege of Syracuse, the captain Giafar Ibn Muhammad used the church as the headquarters of his settlement .
The southern facade of the Church, which was destroyed by the earthquake in 1693, has 4th century elements of gothic-catalan style with rich floral decorations, twisted columns and spiral pillars from using materials that were already there.
The left facade of the Church was built by the Normans, featuring the rose window and the decorated portal.
St. Martian, who was a disciple of St. Peter’s from Antioch, was sent by the latter in 39. A.D. to preach the Gospel and establish the first Christian community of the western world.
Martian is therefore considered the first western bishop because he arrived in Sicily when St. Peter the apostle was still in Antioch.
The hypogean crypt, following the Christian tradition, was built where St. Martian was buried, after being stoned to death because of his work in evangelizing Christianity.
It is very likely that St. Paul the apostle, who was visiting Syracuse for three days in 61 A.D., preached in the same crypt.
Inside the crypt is St. Martian’s tomb stone and in the centre there is an altar which is surrounded by four columns, also used by St. Paul the apostle.
The martyr’s body remained in the crypt for eight centuries until the Arabs conquered Syracuse in 878.
In order to secure the protobishop’s body, the inhabitants of Syracuse had the body moved to Greece, to the basilica of St. Theodore of Perasso in Achaia.
Today the Saint’s resting place is in Gaeta.
Four columns with shrines on which had been engraved the symbols of the evangelists and inscriptions from the Gospel were erected in Norman times.
Byzantine Art inside the crypt
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| St. John the Evangelist | St. Lucy |
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| St. John the Baptist | St. Martian’s fresco with the two figures of St. Martian and St. Lucy |
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| Fresco’s that illustrate St. Lucy, St. Martian, St. John the Baptist, St. Peter and St. Paul. | The remains of the flooring in opus sectile |
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One of the column’s capitals portraying the four evangelists built by the Normans. |
The Catacombes
The Catacombe’s galleries are fascinating and mysterious and are shaped into the limestone forming a labyrinth. The burial sites are a precious shrine full of relics, sarcophagi, engravings, architectural designs and tell us about ancient times and rituals.
From the main gallery, called Decumanus Maximus, ten secondary galleries called Cardines branch off at right angles.
These galleries lead to an equal number of roundabouts which are circular shaped chapels which were derived from ancient reservoirs for collecting water and later on were used for burying famous people.
Detailed map of the Catacombes
There are three types of burials that can be traced inside the Catacombes :
Loculo, a rectangular cavity which is closed with tiles, pieces of marble or stone and which have an inscription.
Arcosolio, a more refined type of burial place composed of an arch engraved in the rock and horizontally closed by a tabula or table which is surmounted by an arched niche.
Forma, a tomb dug into the flooring of the galleries for the lack of space or financial resources.
A Peculiarity: The refrigerium
Adelphia's sarcophagus
The most important element of the sarcophagus is its refined decoration, there are scenes from the old and the new testament, the highlight being the Nativity which is considered the “oldest crib in the world”.
The tombstone’s cover
1. Scenes from Mary’s life.
There follows a scene of the preparation of Mary’s wedding while being assisted by two maids.Finally, in the last scene, one can see the Virgin coated lavishly, while sitting on the throne surrounded by other women ." (Source L'Osservatore Romano)
Some scholars have identified the Balerius with the Lucius Valerius Arcadius Proculus Populonius, consularis Siciliae in the years 325-330, considered, moreover, owner of the splendid villa of Piazza Armerina. In the ark was found the body of Adelfia alone, carefully placed on a slab of lead, perhaps to slow down the decomposition." (Source L'Osservatore Romano)
3. The oldest crib in the world
“On the left of the crib one can see the Wise Men who are carrying the gifts for the Baby, who is lying in a wicker basket in a shelter and warmed by the presence of a bull and a donkey. On the right one can see a shepherd to whom an Angel announces Christ’s birth. ( Luke 2 , 4 - 19) while the Virgin Mary is sitting on a jutting rock which is covered in straw." (Source L'Osservatore Romano)
CENTRAL REGISTRY
4.Imposition of work to Adam and Eve ( Genesis 3 , 16 - 19)
5. St. Peter’s denial ( Matthew, 26 , 34 ; Mark , 14 , 30 ; Luke , 22 , 34 ; John 13 , 38);
6. The healing of the hemorrhaging woman(from hemorroids) ( Mark , 5 , 25 - 35)
7. Moses receiving the Tables of Law (Exodus , 19)
CENTRAL REGISTRY
8. Carved seashell - shaped medallion with the spouses Adelphia and Valerio
9. Abraham sacrificing Isaac ( Genesis, 22, 1- 4);
10. The healing of the blind ( John, 9 , 1 - 41);
11. The multiplication of bread and fish ( Matthew, 14 , 19; Mark , 6, 41; Luke , 9 , 16 ; John , 6 , 1);
12. The resurrection of the son of the widow from Nain ( Luke, 7, 12 – 15)
13. The three young hebrews from Babylon ( Daniel , 3)
14. The wedding feast at Cana ( John, 2 , 2- 11)
15. The adoration of the Magi ( Matthew , 2 , 1 – 12)
16. The original sin ( Genesis , 3 , 1);
17. Jesus’s entry into Jerusalem ( Matthew , 21 , 1 -11)
"Get drunk , with wine, with poetry, or with virtue, as you choose!"
Charles Baudelaire.
CONTENT:
1. Wines of excellence in the area
2. Wine road Val di Noto
MOSCATO(MUSCAT) SIRACUSA DOC & MOSCATO SPUMANTE (SPARKLING)
with a color from straw-yellow to old gold with amber color reflections,
delicate smell with scent of honey and dried fruit,
sweet test, velvety, pleasant. Mainly used as dessert wine it gives great taste sensations when paired,drunk very cold, with tastings of crustaceans and some cheeses.
PASSITO (RAISIN WINE) SIRACUSA DOC
Obtained from white Moscato for at least 85% , Passito is obtained from grapes dried on the plant or after harvesting. Ochre yellow wine with scents of honey & sicilian ripe fruit, flavor and soft taste with fragance of apricot, peach and figs. Excellent and fine dessert wine can be paired,drunk very cold, with tastings of crustaceans and some cheeses.
SYRACUSE WHITE DOC
65% of Moscato, straw yellow color, fine and elegant on the smell, delicate on the palate.
SIRACUSA/ELORO NERO OF AVOLA DOC
Strong and articulated wine with strong scents of dried flowers and spices especially those grown in the districts delimited by the denominations of controlled origin Eloro and Noto. Ruby red color, intense smell, dry, savory, rightly tannic, full bodied to palate.
SIRACUSA SYRAH DOC
Ruby red wine with purple shades and an intense and fruity scent with hints of small black fruits and spices among which black pepper is evident; in the mouth has a good structure and persistence, it is soft and quite fresh with a medium tannicity.
MOSCATO DI NOTO DOC in its 3 versions: Liquoroso(fortified),Passito,Spumante(sparkling) ranging from more or less intense golden yellow to amber with a characteristic and fragrant scent of honey white fruits and vegetable tones, a slightly aromatic sweet taste characteristic of muscat. Dessert wine that can be paired with tastings of crustaceans and cheeses.
ELORO PACHINO DOC RISERVA Nero d'Avola firm and dry has a right sugar and alcohol content and a good acidity that helps to enhance the scents and maintain them over time,it is therefore indicated for wine ageing. The production of this wine is limited.
ELORO PIGNATELLO DOC Composed by 90% of Perricone wine variety, ruby red color more or less intense, delicate and winey to the smell, dry, pleasing to the palate.
ELORO FRAPPATO DOC Wine with pale ruby red color, light and transparent with intense fruity and floral scents. To the palate it is medium-bodied with red fruit aromas, pleasantly fresh, harmonious with soft and balanced tannins. To be combined with soups of fish, tuna, swordfish, blue fish, cured meats and cheeses typical of the territory.
Visiting a winery is definitely an intense experience, a sensory journey through the flavors of wine, tradition, the scents of wineries and the beauty of the landscapes.
We take walks through the vineyards, we talk about tasting techniques and viticulture, we taste the best wines and meet directly the wine makers.
In addition to wine, the tasting of oil , cheeses and cured meats produced in the area is often proposed.
A visit to the winery starts from €20
24 Plemmirio
The coastline of Plemmirio, which has been declared a natural protected marine reserve, presents a fascinating rocky coastline with crystal clear water and a magnificent seabed.
The marine reserve is perfect for whoever loves nature, coastline trekking, snorkeling and diving.
Many rocky beaches along the coastline of Plemmirio are charming and give one a sense of freedom and a feeling of relaxation.
Orientation
🕐 9-7 ☞ Updated Schedule
Info & booking +39 331 956 6696
🚍 Bus No.23. Bus stop: Plemmirio Varco 23 (Ask the driver to stop) 50 meters.
Plemmirio "Via dei Diamanti" Access 25 & 26 SR-12km.
Rough sea with sustained wind from south, southeast.
Handles present at Varco 25 for access to the natural pool, accessible via a rather steep descent of about 50 meters.
In the "Via dei Diamanti street" the two Accesses 25 & 26 offer a rocky shoreline on which to lie down as long as you have a sponge towel : graceful the natural pool of the Varco 25 suitable for those who have children, 100 meters down, the Access 26 offers a deep blue backdrop opposite to the white of the rocks, from which the name Costa Bianca (white coast) derives , which are in the depths. Around midday the sun's rays create plays of light under the surface of the sea creating a gorgeous scenario.
DON'T FORGET SNORKLING MASK.
🚍 Bus No.23. Bus stop: Plemmirio Via dei Diamanti (Ask the driver to stop) 300 meters.
Varco 27 Cala Zaffiro access SR-12km
4,3
334 Google reviews
Quite relaxing lido normally frequented by adults 30-50, risto-bar and aperitifs at sunset.
Rough seas with sustained wind from south, southeast, the descent to the sea is protected by a tongue of rocks that allows access in the water even in rough sea conditions.
Description of the owner: Unique and unforgettable backdrops, the excitement of discovery in a marine protected area, well-being. A cove sheltered by the force of the sea. A simple and refined environment where to enjoy the Sicilian sun. All this is Cala Zaffiro.
🕐 9-20 ☞ Updated
Info & Booking +39 328 159 0707
🚍 Bus No.23. Bus stop :Plemmirio Cala Zaffiro (Ask the driver to stop 300 meters.)
Varco 28 Geronimio access SR-12km
Youthful environment, diving, climbing, snorkeling, hidden cave.
Dangerous sea with sustained wind from south, southeast. If the sea is rough avoid bathing because it is difficult to climb because of the waves.
Varco 28 is located about 100 meters ahead of Varco 27; it is locally called Geronimo because of the exclamation used while jumping from the quite high rocks; it offers a beautiful cove with clear and immediately deep water , there are no services, high walls to do diving or climbing hands-free and a hidden cave visible swimming about 50 meters on the right (looking at the sea). It is not suitable for young children. It is the closest gate to zone A of the reserve.
🚍 Bus N°23. Bus stop : Plemmirio Varco 28 (Ask the driver to stop 400 meters.)
Varco-32 Punta Tavernara SR-12km
5
6 Google reviews
Open sea accesses, not crowded because you have to walk to reach them and access in the water is inconvenient. Recommended for good swimmers, beware sea currents. Good for snorkeling.
Impracticable sea with sustained wind from the east, south-east, northeast. Avoid bathing with rough sea , it is difficult to climb due to the waves and sea currents lead offshore.
Accesses 32 & 33 can be reached on foot from the Lighthouse of Murro di Porco (2.5 km), from Pillirina (Punta Mola) (4.5 km) , from Via di Capo Passero (1 km)
🚍 Bus No.23. Bus stop :Plemmirio Varco 32/33 (Ask the driver to stop near Via Capo Passero street 500 meters. access trail at the end of the paved road, then 1.5 km to reach the sea spots)
Coastal rave of particular beauty, ok for snorkeling with clear water, partial shade after 2 pm. DANGER : Areas close to the walls are disrupted due to possible landslides.
The innermost cove is sheltered by rocks so always accessible in the summer; the seabed is more transparent with winds from west and southwest. Rough seas with sustained wind from north, northeast.
The area called "Pillirina" is a natural oasis with small beaches, rocky coves and seabed rich in flora and marine fauna.
🚍 Bus N° 23. Bus stop Via Isola (800 meters ask the driver to stop near the beach)
As one dives into the water it is easy to find coral reefs full of shellfish which are an indication of an excellent quality of the waters.
In the sea around the Murro di Porco Promontary there are large pelagic fish, the most common being: tuna, kingfish, jackfish and also sea mammals like dolphins and sometimes various types of whales.
A group of killer whales were very recently spotted, on the 22nd of May 2020, near the lighthouse.
Rocks are not as comfortable as sand but once you dive into the deep blue sea of Plemmirio it is a spectacular experience.
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Seabed
Diving and snorkeling spots
Diving
Photo: © www.plemmirio.eu
There are “ ten points of access” to deep sea diving at Plemmirio, all thrilling experiences for an expert diver.
The “A” zone, which is the most protected and subjected to restrictions, can be accessed by expert divers to visit the Formaggio Grottoes, the Cape Grotto, the Secca del Capo Grotto, the Three Anchor’s Grotto and the Giant’s Tongue Grotto.
From the “B” zone one can have access to visit the Grottoes of The Archi, the Meli Cape Ridge, the Stalactites, the Corvine and the more recent Geronimo Grotto .
Each name evoques an unforgettable scenery of the sea, a new perspective of the sea world, attractions created by man and then modelled by nature, like the Mermaid which is an imposing bronze sculpture in memory of Rossana Maiorca, or Our Lady in plaster, built to protect the sea.
One can dive into shoals of barracudas, seabreams, dogfish and kingfish, placid groupers of all types and sizes, shoals of meagres and for the big time lovers, very colourful nudibranchi and madrepore. ( Source: Web portal of Protected Marine Area of Plemmirio, www.plemmirio.eu ).
The Three Anchors (Eng version)
Corvine Cave
Photo: © www.plemmirio.eu
Cheese Caves
Photo: © www.plemmirio.eu
Cape Meli Cave(Eng version)
Photo: © www.plemmirio.eu
Stalactized Cave
Photo: © www.plemmirio.eu
Cape Caves
Photo: © www.plemmirio.eu
The Giant's Tongue
Photo: © www.plemmirio.eu
The Arches
Photo: © www.plemmirio.eu
Marine archaeology
Photo: © www.plemmirio.eu
the excavations which were carried out by the Bristol University in the ‘80s, under Parker’s direction,
the explorations of Kapitan in the sixties and the more systematic ones which involved the “ Aquarius “ Cooperative, directed by Doctor Freschi, from 1986 to 1989.
Among the most interesting discoveries were the remains of the so-called Plemmyrion [A1] situated near the Giant’s Point.⤏
The Odissey’s Mermaids
Photo: © www.plemmirio.eu
In the 12th book, between the verses 39-46, Homer describes the song of the Mermaid’s living on an island full of putrefacting bodies:
You shall come before us, the Mermaids, who enchant all men who are drawn to our sound.He, who unaware, approaches us, the Mermaids, feeling at home, and listening to our voice, shall never see his wife or children again.
We, the Mermaids, spread out on green meadows, enchant with the limpid sound of our voices,
All around are a bunch of bones, shrivelled and putrefacting human bodies.
Here is the passage from the Odissey, verses 184-188:
Reach out to us Odysseus, greatest glory of the Acheians, halt your vessel and listen to our voices.
No one has ever crossed us, with his dark vessel, without stopping to listen to the sound of honey in our voices and infact leaving afterwards replenished with joy and knowledge.
The statue which is on the seabed of plemmirio represents the freediving world champion Rossana Maiorca who died prematurely.
The spectacular Geyser
Summer thunderstorm
The reserve
The starry sky illuminated by the lighthouse
The Lighthouse
The reserve’s inhabitants
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• The Sicilian lizard is 25 cm. long, it has an olive-green or brownish-green back, depending on the season. |
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• The common Kestrel is a bird of prey like the hawk, it eats sparrows and the sound of its call is a strong |
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• The Whip snake, “Scussuni” in Sicilian, is a non poisnous snake 120 – 130 cm long, rarely reaching 2 mt. |
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• The Red fox lives in couples, it mainly eats rodents, birds, reptiles and once in a while fruit and vegetables. |
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• The Weasel is a small sized animal with a long back, cylinder-shaped and short-legged; it is carnivorous and prefers hares, rabbits, mice and little birds. |
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• The hedgehog, amusing and friendly, defends himself with his 6000 quills which change colour depending on the season. It is insectiverous, a great sleeper and in winter it hibernates. - |
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•The wild rabbit eats grass, dry leaves, roots and bark. |
The vegetation along the route
The Dwarf palm , there are very few places in the Mediterranean where there is such a concentrated amount, and which is a unique aspect of the Reserve.
Wild fennel: the terminology infinocchiare derives from using the plant as an appetizer to cover the taste of a poor quality wine.
It is used a lot as a herbal medicine and in food. Fennel is an excellent digestive because It helps to burn fat; it helps digestion, is acid-resistant, has antifermentative properties, is an anti- spasmodic, an expectorant, an antiemetic and an invigorating agent.
Prickly asparagus The beneficial effects of the asparagus to the kidneys are known since ancient times. An infusion in wine is supposed to have beneficial effects for tooth ache -
Laurel is used commonly to relieve kidney colics, stomach disorders, to help digestion, and help expel gases from the gastrointestinal tract troubled by flatulence. In cooking it adds flavour to meat, venison, legumes, fish, crustaceans and big fish like salmon. -
Tree Germander in herbal medicine its leaves are used for infusions as a diuretic and a detoxifier.
The glaucous glasswort called the asparagus of the sea, it is an edible plant rich in vitamin C, iodine and Bromine; it is used as a natural sedative, detoxifier and immunostimulant.
Big Sage: a spontaneous plant considered an absolute rarity, its essential oil is used for mouth ulcers stomatites, halitosis, alopecia, angina, cronic bronchitis, infants diarrhoea, digestive problems, menopause, scarse urination, eczemas, scarse or painful mensruations, in preparation for childbirth, low pressure, wasp stings, fatigue, night or excessive sweating. It is also used as a flavouring agent in foods and as an environmental disinfectant.
The Prasium majus can also be used for cooking and is considered a plant with a high percentage of alfa tocopherol ( vitamin E ) and is a good antioxidant.
The Limonium, a herbal plant commonly known as the paper flower, if you touch the petals you will understand why, it is used for ornamentary purposes because of the vivacious colours of its purple flowers.
Shrub thyme: it is known for its antiseptic, digestive, aromatic and expectorant qualities and also as a food flavouring. It is a honey-producing plant with a strong attraction for bees. -
Thorny Burnet: a rare species, once used as a fence to keep the pigs away; It is actually believed that Jesus Christ’s crown of thorns originated from this plant. It is effective against high blood pressure and irregular heart beat. -
The Thorny broom has cardiotonic and diuretic capacities even though its green parts can cause vomit and diarrhea and its seeds are toxic. Its beneficial function on the heart is due to a substance called sparteine, which functions as a cardiotonic. -
The Restharrow: from its dried roots one can make infusions which are used for gargling and to cure inflammations of the mouth and the throat. The restharrow is also part of the composition of wheatgrass tea which is recognized by the National Galenic Formulary, and is one of the special registered medicines.
End of our visit of Syracuse.
We hope to have made this a pleasant visit for you.
22 Gymnasium
/ Small temple
Closed , open only on Saturday mornings time to time
Saturdays only from 8.30am to 1.30pm.
€ Free
Na
The Roman Gymnasium
Entering the site, you find yourself in a courtyard surrounded by a four-sided portico, but unfortunately, only the north section still remains.
The porticoes were constructed 1.80 m above the ground and each of them measured more than 50 m.
A staircase led to the entrance.
Accessing from the west side you will arrive near the cavea of a small theater with a diameter of 18.90 m, originally covered with marble slabs.
The orchestra section is often flooded, due to a water table below.
The modest size scene is positioned behind an Italic-style temple preceded by an altar, surrounded by Corinthian columns.⤏
The site
Togate Roman Statues, c/o P.Orsi Museum
The original structure of this monumental complex offered the visitor an amazing view: going up from the walkway path, one could have seen the temple located in the central area with a very rich sculptural apparatus.
The portico was enriched and decorated with many sculptures, as reported by rediscovered ancient sources. Along the east side it is still possible to see the bases of three statues while others are exhibited at the Paolo Orsi Archaeological Museum.
The so-called "gymnasium" dates back to the Hellenistic and the Roman periods (end of the 2nd century BC / early 1st century BC - second half of the 1st century AD).
The existence of sculptures is ascertained by the famous tradition of placing Roman magistrates statues in temples dedicated to the god Serapis.
Because of the architectural elements which compose it – the temple on podium, the elevated portico,the theater – it is also possible to think the building complex was originally a temple dedicated to oriental divinities.
For those who are arriving by car , Ortigia is a "ZTL" restricted traffic zone.
You can access to the 3 parking, Talete indoors parking, Nazario Sauro & Molo S. Antonio open parking, quite close to the heart of the island but outside the ZTL: €1.5/h , after 10h the cost stops at €15 (€15x24h). The YELLOW strips are for residents and you can NOT park there.
ZTL ACTIVE From April 1st till October 15th:
Monday to Friday and pre-festive 20-02;
Saturday 17.00-02 am;
Sundays and holidays 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. of next day;
ZTL ACTIVE From October 16th to March 31st:
Fridays and pre-holidays, 20-24;
Saturday 17-24;
Sundays and holidays 11am-24;
Inside the ZTL there is the Marina Parking, so if you exceed the ZTL limit you will have to buy a ticket otherwise you receive a fine of (€80). At the entrance of the ZTL there is the table indicating the number of free places of Marina Parking, always full during summer.
Parking Marina, 70 parking lots , €2/h , watched from 08 am till 01 am. Marina Parking ↱
Next to it there is the "Porta(Gate) Marina carpark , 40- lots , here you can park only if ZTL is NOT active. Marina Gate Parking ↱
1,20€/1 way -10,00€/weekly - 30€/monthly
Interbus & AST connect Catania Ragusa and Syracuse to the municipalities of the province of Syracuse: Avola,Noto,Pachino,Portopalo,Rosolini,Ispica,Canicattini,Palazzolo,Buscemi,Ferla,Sortino,Francoforte, Lentini,Carlentini,Sortino,Augusta, Priolo.
Due to street works the terminal bus may be changed, please ask to reception where the actual one is.
Other out-of-town bus tour services may be available in the high season, here below are some services, to be checked for activation year by year
BUS Noto-Marina di Noto. Departure from Noto Largo Pantheon ↱ to Calabernardo (Piazza Stella Maris square), Lido di Noto (Piazza Sallicano Square),Eloro (Hotel Eloro). Noto Info point +39 339 481 6218.
🕐 GOING 08.15am, 10.15am, 12.15pm, 3.15pm, 7.15pm, 24.00 RETURN 09.15, 11.15, 1.15pm, 5.15pm, 9.15pm €2.50/route, tickets on the bus.
BUS Noto-Palazzolo ☞Nell Viaggi
Departure from Noto Largo Pantheon↱ 🕐10.15/17.15(45min.).
Return from Palazzolo (Via Dante) 09.00/16.00(0.5h).
€5/ride.It is preferable to book
Transfer Avola-Cava Grande "TexTransfer" €60 A/R Bus 9 seats , possibility to share with other bookers,Info & Booking
Bus to Marzamemi ☞ Interbus from June to September reaches Marzamemi from Syracuse & Catania airport. ☞ Ast makes routes from Avola Pachino Noto Portopalo di Capo Passero to Marzamemi.
Going through the arid Sicilian landscapes of summer and lush in winter, with the relaxed timing of a train traveling at 70-90km/h and with the 70s-80s carriages, definitely has the taste of a retro trip suitable for those who live the trip as an experience and not as a means to reach the goal.
Unlike the Buses the train is more punctual, the air conditioning is the prerogative of the 1st class, since it is a regional train it makes all the intermediate stops.
Sicily is served only by REGIONAL trains, for time schedule consult the website ☞ Trenitalia Regional
A couple of times a year a special train called "the Baroque train" tours the cities of Syracuse, Ragusa, Noto, Scicli and Modica sites awarded by Unesco as "World Heritage" . Till now , as far as we know , there is not new schedule for summer 2019.
TAXI STATION MAP
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TAXI OFFICIAL It_Eng
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Taxi fare (Minimum € 5):
. 1° hit €3
+€1.30xKm (€0.40/Min.)
+€1.50 if bankholidays
+€2 Nocturnal
+€2 Right to Call
+ €2 Return from out of town
Art Gallery Bellomo 4,4 238 Google reviews
Archeo Museum P. Orsi 4,4 893 Google Reviews
Sicilian Puppets Museum ☆4,3/5 Shows about Chivalrous stories from Italian Renaissance poems about Rinaldo & company. 🕐 Shows every afternoon excluding Sundays. €9 Adults /€5 Children. ☞ PUPPETS THEATRE IT_Eng.
Papyrus Museum ☆4,3/5 🕐 Tuesday-Saturday:10-19 Sunday:10-14 monday:Closed. €5 Adults / €2 less than 17 / €0 less than 5. ☞ PAPYRUS MUSEUM."
Museum of the Sea : ☆4,2/5 🕐 Monday & Friday:17-20 The rest :Closed. € 2 ☞ MUSEUM OF THE SEA
Hypogeum :☆4,2/5 🕐 Monday-Friday :10-20 Sunday:10-13. €5 Adults / €0 less than 11. ☞ HYPOGEUM.
Syracuse Artemision ☆4.0/5 🕐 Monday-Saturday:10-13 The rest :Closed. €3 Adults / €2 less than 12. ☞ ARTEMISION.
Leonardo da Vinci & Archimedes Museum ☆4.1/5 🕐 7/7:10.30am-7pm €6.50 Adults / €4.50 reduced.Q ☞ MUSEO LEONARDO & ARCHIMEDE.
Archimedes Technopark ☆4,2/5 🕐 7/7: 9.30-18.30. €6Adults / €4 reduced. ☞ TECHNOPARCO.
Perchè visitarlo:
Palazzo Nicolaci dei Principi di Villadorata è un simbolo che oggi, riportato
agli antichi splendori, dà la dimensione della ricchezza artistica e
dell’opulenza del centro netino, in un periodo ormai passato.
La facciata è caratterizzata da un ampio portale fiancheggiato da due grandi colonne ioniche e sormontato da una balconata in pieno stile barocco.
Ai lati troviamo una sequenza di balconi delle inferriate in ferro ricurvo, sorretti da mensoloni in pietra scolpita con le sembianze di figure grottesche quali sirene, leoni, sfingi, ippogrifi, cavalli alati e angeli.
I balconi pare riprendano quelli del Palazzo del Barone di Trezzano a Noto antica. Fra i mensoloni che li reggono, la figura chiave è quella al centro del terzo balcone da sinistra, l’uomo con il flauto, che incarna una frase del testamento di Giacomo: “Nulla giova all’anima esser dotto, se nello stesso tempo non è Santo”.
La costruzione si articola su quattro piani: il pianterreno, il piano “dammusato”, era destinato alle scuderie ed ai magazzini per le scorte di generi alimentari; il primo piano detto “mediastino”, era l’abitazione del barone Giacomo; il piano superiore era adibito a residenza nobile dei familiari; l’ultimo piano, il sottotetto, era destinato alla servitù.
DA NON PERDERE: visita del Piano Nobile e i suoi ambienti
L’elegante scala ottocentesca di stile Neoclassico, con stucchi che simulano il marmo, vi condurrà al piano nobile.
Un corridoio vi porterà alla prima sala, la “Sala del Tè”, decorata con motivi orientali e dove noterete due intriganti figure cinesi.
Si passa quindi al Salone delle Feste, con decorazioni “Trompe I’oeil” che simula una balaustra sovrastata da colonne laterali sulle pareti. Al centro del soffitto troviamo invece l’allegoria del Carro di Apollo che insegue l’Aurora, una copia dell’originale di Guido Reni.
Dal salone delle feste si passa ad una successione di saloni finemente arredati con mobili ottocenteschi provenienti da varie parti d’Europa. Non sono purtroppo i mobili “originali” usati dalla famiglia Nicolaci, ma la scelta degli arredi di ogni ambiente suggerisce le attività e le atmosfere che animavano questi ambienti fino agli ultimi anni del Novecento.
Un’ala del Palazzo Nicolaci accoglie oggi la Biblioteca Comunale, fondata nel 1817, ricca di migliaia di volumi e manoscritti latini e spagnoli a cui va aggiunta una galleria di ritratti degli uomini illustri di Noto, dono del barone Astuto.
Why visit it: Fascinating Oasis in the south of Sicily that embraces an area of the Syracuse coast with clear beaches and clear waters. An area full of riches on all fronts, from biodiversity to geological history to archeology that reveals its ancient settlements.
Not to be missed: The beaches, the Tonnara and birdwatching.
The nature reserve "Oasi Faunistica di Vendicari" was established in 1984 by the Sicilian Region. Located precisely between Noto and Marzamemi, it is one of the most amazing ecosystems in the world.
Crystal clear sea, long and golden beaches, incredible landscapes, Mediterranean vegetation, bird watching observers that will allow you to admire flamingos, herons, storks and other splendid birds.
Both the terrestrial environments surrounding the marshes and the aquatic ones are characterized by an extraordinary variety of habitats and exceptional biodiversity.
This is due, as far as the first is concerned, to the presence of very different substrates, to particular hydrogeological characteristics and to the different physico-chemical characteristics of the waters.
So terrestrial environments enumerate valuable phyto-sociological associations, typical of these systems and of a great variety of species, some of which have almost disappeared in the rest of Sicily.
Its peculiarity is given by the different biotypes that compose it: from the pools that form the marshes to the rocky and sandy coast or to the typical Mediterranean scrub.
There is a very dense Mediterranean scrub, which in general characterizes the territory with Lentisks, Myrtles, Wild Olive Trees etc.
The sandy coastal environment includes, distributed in strips parallel to the coast from the shore to the hinterland, Sea rocket, Salicornia, Beach-grass, Eryngium creticum, Maritime Euphorbia, Sea lily; Beach in bloom, Cornflower beach, Maritime fennel, in the stripes behind the dunes;
an exclusive, dense and uninterrupted strip of Mediterranean scrub with Juniper, together with Ephedra, Lentisk and Fillirea in the innermost and undisturbed dunes.
This great variety of environments is the essential basis for the varied presence of ecological niches, unimaginable elsewhere, which offer shelter to a large number of animal species, many of which are endangered in Sicily.
Vendicari represents not only an important neuralgic area in the migratory and wintering routes of many species of birdlife (over 200 species, some residents and some nesting, including the spatula, the gray heron, the stork, the flamingo, the shiny ibis, the wild goose, the pink gull, the black-winged stilt house, the stone chiurlo, others)
but it also gives shelter to many mammals (Sicilian shrew, dormouse, hedgehog, pygmy shrew, vole, porcupine, fox, weasel, wild rabbit), amphibians and reptiles (snake, grass snake, leopard rat snake, green lizard, marsh turtle) and insects.
Also important is the marsh environment , where there are numerous species of aquatic fauna (fishes, shellfishes, reptiles, amphibians and insects) and submerged vegetation (algae and different phanerogams, proper to these environments).
The marine environment in front of these marshes - characterized by low seabed constituted both by rock covered by algal associations and by sandy environments and grasslands of Poseidonia oceanica, and populated by appreciated fish fauna (sea-bass, sea bream, dassie) - is among the areas indentified by law for the institution of a marine reserve (AMP).
For nature lovers Vendicari offers the best beaches in all of Eastern Sicily.
All beaches have dedicated parking areas, distant from 200mt to 1.2 Km, all accesses are paid
The conditions of the beaches change from year to year, you can find algae , reeds or logs , being a reserve everything is part of an ecosystem and are not removed.
☞ From recent photos posted on Instagram or Google you can tell if and where there are algae or reeds.
The sea of Vendicari is extremely transparent, the best conditions are when there is little wind or the wind blows from the West, North West, South West.
From North to South the beaches of Vendicari :
Eloro Pizzuta beach
Adjacent to the ruins of ancient Eloro.
Eloro Tellaro beach
Beach bordering the mouth of the river Tellaro.
Marianelli beach
Nudist and gay friendly beach
Calamosche beach
Beach guarded in a wonderful cove.
Tonnara Beach
Beach close to the tonnara and the marshes
Vendicari Beach
Very long beach, sometimes forbidden due to the presence of turtle eggs.
Citadel Beach
Beach with a beautiful backdrop.
the presence of the vast marshes has contributed to the creation of an ecosystem that is a reference point both for the birds that stop here in large numbers before reaching the migratory destinations throughout Europe, and for the ever-growing population of sedentary birds that has found a satisfactory habitat in Vendicari.
In fact, the area of the reserve is located at a latitude lower than the African coast by about 50 km
Sighting equipment
Recommended camera lens 400x ; you can use a 200x but it takes luck to make some decent shots; unfortunately the marshes are quite extensive and because of the visitors the birds prefer to stay as far as possible from the noises.
20x50 binoculars (also the 30€ one sold by the Chinese) gives the opportunity to admire the splendid specimens that live or pass through the reserve
The Courier of Leschenault (Photo: Dr. Ajay Balachandran) nests in Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Armenia, Azerbaijan and southern Afghanistan; winters on the coasts of the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the southeastern Mediterranean Sea; of pace in central-southern Europe including Italy, Scandinavia, united kingdom and North Africa.
The Piro Piro di Terek, of medium-small size, has a long beak turned upwards of orange color with the black tip and the webbed feet; the legs are long and bright orange. The upper feathers are gray, the lower ones are white.
The Narrow Tailed Snipe it lives in Asia, from Russia to Indonesia and from Iran to Malaysia, including Japan, Oman, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Maldives, Cocos Islands and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.It is passing through the Arabian Peninsula, Somalia, Kenya, Comoros, Seychelles, Christmas Island, Papua New Guinea and Australia.Rarely it also goes to Tunisia and southern Italy.
The Fawn Piro Piro (Photo: Stefano Benucci) lives in the Americas, the Caribbean and Russia.It is in step in western and northern Europe, in the Mediterranean Basin (including Italy), in Australia and on some islands of western Oceania, in Japan, Taiwan, in southern Africa, in Kenya and along the Gulf of Guinea.
Lesser crested terns(Thalasseus bengalensis) (Photo: oiseaux.net) is visible in Europe, Asia, and Africa; in Italy it breeds on the Pò's delta, in environments where there is water nearby.
Rüppell's warbler(Photo: G.Minuta) also known as Silvia with a black throat, is a migratory bird that nests in Greece, some large islands of the Aegean, in Turkey, Syria and in winter in the center and east of the Sahel (especially in Chad and Sudan).
The Chiurlottello (Photo: Migratoria.it) very rare bird lives in Eastern and Central-Eastern Europe, especially in Russia (Omsk region) where it nests, and Romania where it was last sighted. It winters in Italy, in the Balkan states and North Africa, in Turkey and in the states of the former Soviet Union.
Most common sightings
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Gray heron (Photo: Ómar-Runólfsson) |
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Dabchick |
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Great crested grebe (Photo: Marek-Szczepanek) |
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Redshank (Photo: Andreas-Trepte) |
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Ferruginous duck (Photo: Erbanor) |
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Egret (Photo: Andreas-Trepte) |
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Pink flamingos (Photo: Estormiz) |
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Avocet (Photo: Erbanor) |
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Azavola (Photo: Steve-Garvie) |
From the main entrance we take the main path on the right until we reach the sea, from here we head right again in the direction of the Citadel.
The first point of interest is the [11]Pantano Roveto, where we find observation huts along the way, panoramic points to have the opportunity to admire life within this fascinating ecosystem, a perfect place for birdwatching.
Continuing our path we have on one side then the cliff and on the other the Pantano rich in vegetation typical of the place.
Along the coastal stretch you can see the Island of Vendicari, very close to the coast, also part of the Oasis.
Continuing we pass a small mouth of the Pantano that pours into the sea and we enter towards our right to reach the [12]Trigona, with the Pantano behind it. We admire the Byzantine structure that together with the others have determined an important documentation of the medieval period in these areas.
We continue on our path to find ourselves on the area of the Necropolis.
Continuing the itinerary to the south we meet on the left the path that leads to [13] the beach of the citadel , a splendid natural location (possible presence of algae) where you can enjoy a crystal clear sea, having the sensitivity to respect the place and any areas forbidden to the nesting of turtles.
Continuing we reach the [14]Citadel: an area of Byzantine settlement of which only a recent former Palmento remains, born for the production of wine but now used to host naturalistic and cultural events in the area.
The largest of the marshes, the Bush quagmire has an extension of 1.24 km² and the mouth that connects it to the sea is usually buried. The average depth is 30-40 cm, while the maximum is 1-2 m.
The huts arranged around the quagmire allow you to observe the local fauna without being seen.
La Trigona: cuba (church) Byzantine square plan with three apses, an upper dome and an opening to the east so that, as tradition, the light of the full moon entered the building starting the holy Easter.
Cuba is among the most valuable finds that in chronological order testify to the continuity of housing of these places always affected by the presence of man for the richness of the fauna and the strategic position.
Not far from the Trigona are visible several Byzantine catacombs , in a good layer of conservation with family and single tombs. In the area was found, in the 70s of the last century, a tombstone with Jewish symbols. The area also has several remains of houses, a sign that the area was densely populated perhaps because of the nearby port, of which traces remain.
The arrival of the continuous threats by the barbarians first and then by the Arabs determined the abandonment of these places in favor of the inaccessible highlands of Pantalica, where the Byzantines moved.
Probably one of the most beautiful beaches of eastern Sicily, the beach is wide and comfortable, the sea has an exceptional clarity. Possible presence of algae .
For those wishing to reach directly the beach of the citadel, the paid parking is 500 meters away. Click on the P to get the navigation directions. Parking 3,5-5 €/day; 9-19 ; 7/7. Entrance reserve 3,5 €.
The Cittadella dei Maccari is located at the extreme southern tip of the Vendicari nature reserve. The archaeological site of Cittadella, so called precisely because here stood a small town in Byzantine times.
The building on the promontory is the former Palmento for the production of wine, recently restored which now hosts naturalistic and cultural exhibitions in the area.
