«Giace della Sicania al golfo avanti
un’isoletta che a Plemmirio ondoso
è posta incontro, e dagli antichi è detta
per nome Ortigia. A quest’isola è fama,
che per vie sotto il mare il greco Alfeo
vien, da Doride intatto, infin d’Arcadia
per bocca d’Aretusa a mescolarsi
con l’onde di Sicilia…»
“Right o’er against Plemmyrium’s wat’ry strand,
There lies an isle once call’d th’ Ortygian land.
Alpheus, as old fame reports, has found
From Greece a secret passage under ground,
By love to beauteous Arethusa led;
And, mingling here, they roll in the same sacred bed.”
(Virgil, the Aeneid, book III-1095)
Syracuse (Siracusa in Italian and Sarausa in Sicilian) has a population of 150,000 and governs a province that bears its name. In 2005, along with the necropolis cliffs of Pantalica, was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO, and was described long ago by Cicero as “the most beautiful of all Greek cities.”
The town’s history has always been associated with culture and the arts: it has been a home to Greek poets and writers and often a place of pilgrimage. In ancient times Plato and Cicero were here, but the name of Syracuse is above all associated with Archimedes and his inventions.
In more modern times it has been visited by Caravaggio, August von Platen, Maupassant, André Gide and Oscar Wilde. It was also a stop on the Grand Tour, the journey made by noblemen and artists of northern Europe in the eighteenth century to Italy. One of those who stopped here was Jean Pierre Louis Laurent Hoüel.
The most important of the fetes and festivals are religious events. The most famous nationally is that of 13th December, the festival and procession of Santa Lucia. The procession starts out from the Duomo or cathedral and ends at the church of Santa Lucia fuori le mura or outside the city walls, and the most devote make the journey in bare feet. The procession comes to a close with the retinue of “Cavalieri” in eighteenth century garb accompanying the “Senate’s Carriage”, a splendid example of Syracusan baroque. The effigy is on display for eight days, at the end of which another procession escorts it back to the Duomo.
There are several museums showing Syracusa’s heritage in the city: the Paolo Orsi Regional Archaeological Museum, important as a centre for the archaeology of the whole of eastern Sicily. The Bellomo Museum has collected works of art from local masters, including Antonello da Messina’s Annunciation, the works of the Gagini brothers as well as canvasses by Marco Costanzo of Syracuse, pupil of Antonello da Messina, and by Mario Minniti, a friend of Caravaggio who was his host and protected him during his stay in Syracuse. .
Syracuse’s fame is due to its Greek history, when the “polis” of Syracuse controlled these seas, undermining the powers of Carthage and Rome. Much remains to see that dates from those times, including the famous “Fonte Aretusa” a fresh water spring in the heart of Ortigia, linked to the myth of Arethusa and Alpheus, as narrated by many poets and writers.
In the archaeological area of Neapolis, the ancient heart of the town, there is the Greek theatre with its excellent acoustics and where oratorical and theatrical plays were performed as part of the city’s political and cultural life. The Ear of Dionysius, an artificial cavity hewn from the stone, is also frequently the location for summer shows in a spectacular setting.
