Syracuse (Siracusa)

Updated: Sep 15

Italy seaside city with a rich Greek culture - Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica 1200; Mediterranean diet 00884

What and Why

Syracuse (Italian : Siracusa) was founded in the 8th century CE by Greek settlers, led by the coloniser Archias (Greek: Ἀρχίας). The settlement of Syracuse was an exercise of urban planning, as a strong central leader, Archias laid out how properties and the streets of the settlement should be arranged with overall planning and dimension. The nucleus of the ancient city was the small island of Ortygia.

The city is notable for its rich Greek history and culture and is well-known as the birthplace of the Archimedes (Greek: Ἀρχιμήδης). This 2,700-year-old city played a key role in ancient times and was a time a nation by itself. The cultural, architectural and artistic stratification evident in the Syracuse bears exceptional testimony to the history and cultural diversity of the region over three millennia from the ancient Greek period to the Baroque.

Toponymy

A possible origin of the city's name was that there was a Syracusian marsh called 'syrako (Greek: Συρακώ)' and hence one gets Syrako and other variants for the name Syracuse. 'Ortygia' derives from the Greek word 'ὄρτυξ (ortyx)', which means 'quail'.

See

Most of the monuments are concentrated inside the little island of Ortygia.

Apollonion

The Apollonion (Greek: Ἀπολλώνιον) or the Temple of Apollo is one of the most important Greek monument in Ortygia, and was probably the most ancient Doric temple in Sicily (Sicilia). Clearly built and devoted to Apollo (Greek: Ἀπόλλων, Apollōn) during the Greek occupation, it is largely a ruin-pile now. However this ruin is now symbolic of the Greek period of Syracuse.

Old town on Ortygia

Plenty of shops and restaurants around along cobblestone alleys.

Cathedral of Syracuse (Cattedrale metropolitana della Natività di Maria Santissima)

The landmark of Syracuse, standing on a marbled piazza, the Catholic Cathedral of Syracuse (Cattedrale metropolitana della Natività di Maria Santissima) is built inside a Greek Doric temple, which is visible from the outside structure. This Doric temple was even mentioned in various scripts by Plato (Greek: Πλάτων, Plátōn). The present cathedral was constructed by Saint Bishop Zosimo of Syracuse in the 7th century CE. The battered Doric columns of the original temple were incorporated in the walls of the current church. The building was converted into a mosque in the late 9th century CE, then converted back when the Norman King Roger II (Latin: Rogerios, né Ruggeru Hauteville) retook the city in the late 11th century CE. This explains how the Greek, Roman and Baroque architecture all blended into one.

Fountain of Arethusa (Fonte Aretusa)

The beautifully crafted Fountain of Arethusa (Fonte Aretusa) is a natural fountain in Ortygia. According to Greek mythology, the fresh water fountain is the place where the nymph Arethusa (Greek : Ἀρέθουσα), the patron figure of ancient Syracuse, returned to Earth's surface after escaping from her undersea home in Arcadia (Greek : Αρκαδία , Arkadía).

Ear of Dionysius (Orecchio di Dionisio)

The Ear of Dionysius (Orecchio di Dionisio) is formed out of an old limestone quarry.

Buy and Do

Plenty of things to buy in the Old Town, especially along Via Cavour. All sorts of stuffs especially local olive oil. Another tourist favourite is the local papyrus paper. The Old Outdoor Market (Antico Mercato di Ortigia) is a wonderful place to roam around for these items, where my group of girls had a lot of fun.

Along Alfeo Promenade, there are a number of open air night clubs and dance floors. The strip becomes quite a scene during the evening!

Eat and Drink

Italian fine dining (Cucina raffinata italiana)

As we had dinner in the hotel, we were served a full-course meal, according to the Italian standard. Most of us associate Italian cuisine with pasta and pizza only, but this is definitely more than that, and did not realise that it is equally elaborate as French cuisine. The typical full-course meal include the following stages:

Aperitivo: the meal is started with apéritif, usually enjoyed as an appetiser.
Antipasto: meaning 'before the meal' serving some light cold dishes, like cheese and ham or bread appetiser.
Primo: the first course, usually consists of a hot dish like pasta, risotto, soup, or sometimes (but rarely) pizza.
Secondo: the second course, but the real main course, and here comes the unexpected. The main dish, usually fish or meat, is the main feature of the set, rather than what most of us think as the pasta and pizza.
Contorno: meaning 'side dish', may be a salad or cooked vegetables, sometimes served together with the secondo.
Formaggio e frutta: meaning 'cheese and fruits', the first dessert.
Dolce: meaning 'sweet', serving cakes, biscuits or ice cream. Usually served with formaggio e frutta.
Caffè: coffee, a must, cannot be replaced by tea or other beverages.
Digestivo: meaning 'digestives', usually liquors like local grappa or limoncello, sometimes referred to as ammazzacaffè, the coffee killer.

Clearly Italian cuisine is part of the Mediterranean diet, which we covered earlier in the blog of Amalfi, which is a UNESCO ICH.

Stay

We ate and stayed in Casale Milocca, a resort hotel at the outskirt of Syracuse. Very comfortable and beautiful, but the food choice is lacking.

Getting There and Around

Ortygia prohibits tourist car to enter, but the car can stay out of the island and it is a very short bridge-walk into the island. The entire Ortygia can be completed in a simple two-hour leisure walk, covering all main touristy sites. We recommend at least a day or two for the city.