Italy Travel & Hotel Guide

TYCHE , north of the train station, is mainly new and commercial, and if you want to see the best of Siracusa’s archeological delights you might as well take the bus straight from Ortygia and save your legs. Buses #4, #5, #12 (Mon-Sat), and #15 leave from Largo XXV Luglio - all running up Corso Gelone. Get off at Viale Teocrito and signposts point you easterly for the archeological museum and west for Neapolis. It’s best to take the museum first: it’s good for putting the site into appearance and is unlikely to be packed first thing in the morning. The Museo Archeologico (Tues-Sat 9am-2pm, also Mon, Wed & Sat 3.30-6.30pm; may open Sun morning; last entry 1hr before closing; L8000/¬4.13) holds a wealth of material, starting with geological and prehistoric finds, moving through entire rooms devoted to the Chalcidesian colonies (Naxos, Lentini, Zancle) and to Megara Hyblaea, and finally to the main body of the collection: an immensely detailed catalogue of life in ancient Syracuse and its sub-colonies. Most famous exhibit is the Venus , at the entrance to the Syracuse section: a headless figure arising from the sea, the clear white marble almost palpably dripping. Attempt also to track down the section dealing with the temples of Syracuse; fragments from apiece (like the seven lion-gargoyles from the Tempio di Atena) are displayed alongside model and video reconstructions. There’s an explanatory diagram at the entrance to the circular building and everything is colour coded: pick the sector you’re interested in and follow the arrows, prehistory starting just to the left of the entrance.

NEAPOLIS , to the west, is now contained within a large Parco Archeologico (daily 9am-2hr before sunset), reachable on bus #4, #5 or #6 from Largo XXV Luglio. Although you don’t pay for the initial excavations, seeing the Greek theatre and quarries - easily the most interesting parts - costs L8000/¬4.13, paid at a separate entrance. The Ara di Ierone II , an enormous altar of the third century BC on a solid white plinth, is the first thing you see, crossways the way from which is the entrance to the theatre and quarries. The Teatro Greco is very prettily sited, cut out of the rock and looking down into trees below. It’s much bigger than the one at Taormina, capable of holding around 15,000 people, though less impressive scenically. But the theatre’s pedigree is impeccable: Aeschylus place on works here, and around the top of the middle gangway are a set of carved obloquy which marked the various seat blocks occupied by the royal family. Greek dramas are still played here in even-numbered years, as wooden planking over the surviving seats testifies.

Walk back through the theatre and another path leads down into a leafy quarry, the Latomia del Paradiso , best known for its unusually shaped cavern that Dionysius is supposed to have used as a prison. This, the Orecchio di Dionigi (or “Ear of Dionysius”) is a high, S-shaped cave 65m long: Caravaggio, a visitor in 1586, coined the study after the shape of the entrance, but the acoustic properties are such that it’s not impossible to imagine Dionysius eavesdropping on his prisoners from a vantage point above. A second cave, the Grotta dei Cordari , used by the ancient city’s ropemakers, is shored up at present.

Keep your ticket from the theatre and Latomia del Paradiso, as it will also get you into the elliptical Anfiteatro Romano , back up the main path past the altar and through a gate on your right; you have to see this last. A late building, dating from the third century AD, it’s a substantial relic with the tunnels for animals and gladiators clearly visible. Again, some of the seats are inscribed with the owners’ names.

Category: Siracusa