Siracusa in 3 days
- pat kelly
- Jul 17
- 6 min read
Syracuse has a modern portion that we did not spend much time in. We based ourselves on the island of Ortygia, also spelled Ortigia, which is magical. It is only a square kilometer and connects to the main city by two bridges. Most of the ancient core of Siracusa is conveniently located inside this little island. The ride from Taormina, where we started our vacation was quick and easy.
Ortygia was founded by Greeks from Corinth in 734 BC. Many other groups have ruled and lived here, like all of Sicily. I picked our Airbnb for typical reasons: patio and location.
This place is one of my favorite all time rentals, based solely on a tiny patio that looked out on a seemingly unremarkable square and church. The church (San Francesco all'Immacolata) never seemed to be open but you felt like you could feel the Italy vibe from this perch. There was always some chatter from the restaurant below or the market across the square.
We met our host by a fabulous fountain depicting the town's central legend: Diana transforms the nymph Arethusa into a spring of water to escape another god. Syracusans will call themselves Aretusei, noting their allegiance to Arethusa. The Greek city founders were so thankful to find a freshwater spring on the edge of the ocean harbor, a legend was born. You can visit the site of this spring, but we skipped it. Syracuse was once one of the great empires of the Mediterranean, rivaling only Athens at a time.
After we met the host and dropped our bags, we headed over to the main square around Syracuse Cathedral: Piazza Duomo. It is hard to describe the colors. The whole piazza is white limestone. The churches and buildings all white or ochre, and the sky was so blue. There were minimal crowds, nothing that detracted from what was a great walk around town. We went inside the cathedral. It is impressive inside as well.
It was built directly over a 5th century BC Greek Temple of Athena. The old columns were incorporated into the structure and are visible both internally and externally.
We just wandered without a firm destination (aside from lunch). Ortygia feels like a few blocks of old Rome surrounded by walls and plopped in an ocean harbor. When wandering you will get to the edge of town pretty quickly. The southern end of the island holds Castello Maniace. Lunch was some tasty pizza a couple of blocks from our place.
Our next stop was a museum: Galleria regionale di Palazzo Bellomo di Siracusa. This is a cool spot. The museum is housed in a 12th century palace. The collection spanned from middle ages to 18th century. The kids had fun making goofy faces emulating the faces on some of these old statues.
After we spent an hour or so at the museum, we got some groceries from the market across from our place. We made dinner in the apartment and I sat out on that patio for the first of many hours over the next few days.
The next day's plan was a road trip to Noto. Noto is famous for its harmonious architecture of honey colored buildings in the Baroque style.
The harmony is largely due to the town being rebulit following an earthquake in 1693. There is one main street, Via Corso Vittorio Emanuele, which is lined with beautiful buildings, largely made out of local tufa stone, giving it the golden colors.
Trenitalia offers frequent trains from Syracuse to Noto, which takes about 30 minutes.
After checking out Noto Cathedral, we walked down to Chiesa di San Carlo al Corso. This church has a rooftop with cool bells and a pretty good view. We popped into a museum for a few minutes and then checked out the town beyond the historical main drag.
Noto was a good day trip, given how easy it was to get there and the day had a nice mixture of architecture/ churches and a little bit of shopping or food. We had a great lunch and found a t shirt shop, Siculamente, that absorbed us for a while. Several shirts were going back to Seattle.
When we got back to Siracusa, we bounced over the the beach, which in this town involves no sand. In Siracusa, beaches are much cooler, with people just sitting on huge rocks in the water outside the city walls. There are a bunch of locals sunbathing on the rocks and you can climb down into the water and take a dip. It was very fun. After the swim, we took a stroll back towards central Ortigia.
We hung close to the water and worked our way back towards Piazza Duomo. Just wandering with an eye towards some gelato, we enjoyed the Ortigia vibe. I was snapping pictures of both grand buildings and simple courtyards.
When we got back to the Syracuse Cathedral, there were two weddings going on. I imagine it is a popular spot, as that piazza just glows. The church is pretty impressive and really stands apart from its surroundings in this beautiful piazza.
The next day we were doing the historical thing, with yet another Greek Theatre. First, we walked to the Temple of Apollo on our way out of Ortigia.
The Temple of Apollo ruins are something you walk right by as you cross either bridge into Ortigia. This temple dates from the 6th century BC, making it the oldest Doric Temple in Sicily. It is next to the area where a local market exists and only takes a few minutes to check out.
Next, we grabbed a taxi for the Greek Theatre, which was one of our few times leaving Ortigia during our Siracusa stay.
The Greek Theatre in Siracusa was originally built in the 5th century BC, then rebuilt in the 3rd century BC, and had major renovations by the Romans. This it has in common with the Greek Theatre in Taormina. They do not look terribly alike. The Siracusa version is striking in the white stone which was carved directly out of the Temenite hill into which it is built.
Unlike the Taormina theatre, there is no incredible backdrop of Mount Etna or the sea, but there were hardly any crowds. It was very hot but we had a great time wandering around the theatre. There are a number of cool things in this area around the theatre.
We walked over to the Ear of Dionysius, or Orecchio of Dionisio, and also visited the altar of Heiron after the theatre.
The Altar of Heiron II is mildly interesting but is more of a ruin. What is left of this largest sacrificial altar in the Greek world, is a 600 foot long stone foundation.
The Orecchio is a limestone cave famous for its acoustic properties.
Dionysius I was the ruler of Siracusa from 432-367 BC. He used this cave as a prison.
Dionysius supposedly would hide at the top of the quarry that bears his ear's name, at a secret listening spot and eavesdrop on the prisoners. The slightest whispers from the prisoners (involving plots against him) would be magnified to the degree that he could hear them. Another legend is that he would choose this cave to torture the prisoners, as their screams would be magnified to scare the regular citizens of Siracusa into compliance with his despotism.
You could definitely appreciate the weird acoustics in the cave as we all jumped up and down and babbled like fools to hear the echo.
We headed back to Ortigia, had some lunch and then some down time on my favorite spot: the patio of our Airbnb.
The square in front of our place was known as the Piazza Francesco Corpaci. Tracy and I would have some vino and listen in on the action in the piazza.
We decided to check out another swimming spot outside the city walls. This one had an actual beach but all pebbles. There were a dozen people lounging on the shore and we took a swim. Again, we wandered back through town to our favorite piazza.
The church was not open, but we sat on the steps and had some gelato. Another successful day in Sicily was coming to a close. The next day we were off to Sorrento for the seccond half of our vacation on the Amalfi Coast. I can't wait to go back.
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