Walking Tour in Syracuse

Walking Tour in Syracuse

Highlights

• Walk through Ortigia, where the urban layout preserves Greek foundations from 734 BCE and later Roman, medieval, and Baroque layers within a compact historic center.

• Stand beside the 6th-century BCE Temple of Apollo and enter the Syracuse Cathedral, where the Doric columns of a 5th-century BCE temple to Athena remain integrated into the present church.

• Visit the Fonte Aretusa, a freshwater spring near the sea associated with Greek myth and known for papyrus plants growing in its waters, a rare presence in Europe.

Meeting point

Meet your tour guide at Statue of Archimedes.

Itinerary

The tour begins at the Statue of Archimedes, dedicated to the mathematician and engineer born in Syracuse in the 3rd century BCE. Archimedes is known for formulating principles in geometry and hydrostatics, including the law of buoyancy. From here, the walk enters Ortigia, the historical center of Syracuse, connected to the mainland by bridges. Ortigia has been inhabited since the 8th century BCE and preserves urban layers from Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Norman, and Spanish periods. The route continues to the Temple of Apollo, one of the oldest Doric temples in Sicily, dating to the early 6th century BCE. Its remains show the original peristyle and parts of the cella, and inscriptions in Greek were found on the site.