City streets,  Monday walks,  Sicily

Exploring Ortigia, the ancient heart of Syracuse

July 9, 2025 / 40 Comments

According to Cicero, the greatest of Greek cities wasn’t in Greece itself but in Sicily. He described Ortigia, the original heart of modern-day Syracuse, as ‘the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of all’. Situated on a small island, the city was founded by the Greek settlers from Corinth in 743 B.C.

Today UNESCO listed Ortigia has everything you hope to find in an Italian city. There are ancient ruins from both Greek and Roman times, a Baroque cathedral, and winding lanes that ooze history at every turn. Oh, and great gelato too of course!

But we started our visit not with gelato but with its more refreshing cousin, granitia. It was a hot day and we had parked, as you must, in a large car park on the mainland (Ortigia is an island city). From here it was about ten minutes’ walk to the bridge that links the island to the rest of Syracuse. A period of cooling off was required before we started to explore. Do come with me on a (belated) Monday Walk.

We started with a wander through the street market which was selling mostly tourist ‘tat’, though I was briefly tempted by a decorative tile to be used as a trivet. That was, until I realised how much it would weigh down my suitcase!

In the market

Temple of Apollo

After spending a bit of time here we went to see the ruins of the Temple of Apollo. The temple dates from the 6th century BC and according to Wikipedia is one of the most ancient Doric temples in Sicily. It has had several ‘lives’, from Greek temple to Byzantine church to mosque to Catholic church. The latter was subsequently incorporated into 16th century Spanish barracks and into private houses. Relatively little remans today and to the average viewer (including me!) it is hard to appreciate how it must once have looked, nor distinguish Greek elements from the later additions. But it set the tone nicely for our day’s explorations.

The Temple of Apollo and surroundings

We then meandered through some of the narrow streets at the island’s heart.

On the streets of Ortigia

Chiesa di San Pietro Apostolo

We stopped to visit the small Chiesa di San Pietro Apostolo. This is the oldest church in Syracuse, dating back to 326 AD, and I found it full of atmosphere. I was puzzled by some markings scratched on a column but haven’t been able to find any specific reference to these. However a Google Lens search of my image suggested they might be apotropaic marks. These marks were often carved into buildings in Medieval times, to ward off evil spirits, witches, or bad luck. They were near the entrance to the church which is where such marks were often carved.

Simple altar and those mysterious markings

Fontana di Diana

Our steps led us eventually to the Fontana di Diana in the Piazza Archimede which was created by Giulio Moschetti in 1907 using reinforced concrete. It portrays the story of the nereid (water nymph) Aretusa and her protector, the goddess Artemis/Diana:

One day while hunting in the forest Aretusa went for a swim in a stream. While in the water, she felt something move beneath her. It was the river god Alfeo, who immediately fell in love with Aretusa. But she wanted nothing of him and fled. Alfeo made chase, and being a river, his endurance was too much for her. Exhausted, she called to the goddess of the hunt, Artemis, for help. Artemis responded by transforming Aretusa into a fresh-water spring. It is said that this spring flowed via an underground channel from Greece under the Ionian Sea to Sicily to emerge in Ortigia.

But Alfeo, being water also, merged with the spring and thus the two are eternally intertwined. Legend says that if you throw flowers into the Alfeios River in Greece they will eventually emerge at the Fonte Aretusa, a spring on the other side of Ortigia.

The Fontana di Diana

We managed to get a mostly shady table at a café with a view of the fountain, where we had a light lunch. My caponata with parmesan wafer was delicious! I have to share a photo, even if it isn’t Jo’s preferred cake 😉

Caponata

La Cattedrale Metropolitana della Natività di Maria Santissima

We then continued to the cathedral with its impressive setting in a wide-open piazza. This was originally built in the 7th century AD over the remains of the 5th century BC Temple of Athena. The roof of the nave is from Norman times, as are the mosaics in the apses. The façade was rebuilt in the mid 18th century. It is considered a powerful example of the Sicilian-Baroque style.

Cathedral façade and statues of Santa Lucia and San Marciano

We paid a reasonable €2 to visit inside. It felt very ancient and imposing, rather than beautiful, but there were those lovely old frescoes in a side chapel and other interesting details.

Among these were some of relics of Santa Lucia, the patron saint of the city, including a number of bone fragments. As a young girl, Lucia was martyred for her Christian faith during the persecutions of the Roman emperor Diocletian in 304. In medieval accounts of her martyrdom, her eyes were gouged out prior to her execution, so she is also considered the patron saint of the blind.

Inside the cathedral (note, the relics pictured here are not those of Santa Lucia, which were hard to photograph, but of other saints)

Back outside we walked along the side to see how the remains of the Greek Temple of Athena had been incorporated into the cathedral structure.

Part of the Temple of Athena embedded in the cathedral walls

Waterfront views and more street details to round off our walk

From here we walked down to the waterfront to get some views of the bay, looking across to where we knew our B&B lay.

Waterfront views

We’d planned to take a walk along the water’s edge, but it was very hot here in the full sun. So we returned to the centre to follow the shadier main drag back towards the bridges, stopping on the way for those obligatory gelati, as well as taking a few more photos as we went.

More details in Ortigia, plus the (closed) Chiesa del Collegio dei Gesuiti

Eventually we were back at the car which was baking in the bright sunlight in the car park. We’d only managed to see about half of Ortigia, so like Noto, this is a place to which I would love to return.

Note: the English version of the city’s name is Ortygia, but I have used the Italian throughout. After all, when in Rome Sicily …

I visited Syracuse in May 2025

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