Ortigia

The Church of St. Lucia to the Abbey

The Church of Santa Lucia alla Badia was originally a monastery.
The building was entirely destroyed by the earthquake of 1693 and later rebuilt at the behest of the Mother Abbess of the Cistercian order (A monastic order following the Rule of St. Benedict).
The Church and the Cistercian convent dedicated to St. Lucia had an important role in the city’s worship, both for their location in the heart of Ortygia, and for the feast of St. Lucia in May , instituted to commemorate the patron saint’s miraculous intervention during the famine of 1646, when she led two ships loaded with grain into the port, putting an end to the Syracusans’ long hunger. The façade, facing the square, is made of light-coloured limestone and consists of two superimposed levels separated by a trabeation and a wrought iron balcony with a balustrade with curved balusters.
La Chiesa di S. Lucia alla Badia The lower level has a sumptuous Baroque portal flanked by Solomonic columns  supporting the pediment, decorated with symbols of the Saint’s martyrdom. On the two side sections, enclosed within cornices, stand the coats of arms of the kings of Spain. The upper level, enriched by pilaster strips in pseudo-Corinthian style, is inspired by Rococo.
The apse behind the main altar has on temporary display the large painting of the “ Burial of St. Lucia ” painted in 1608 by Caravaggio during his stay in Syracuse.

Crypt of San Marciano

The Cathedral of Syracuse

The Altar of Hieron II: Blood and fire place

The Dionysian Walls: a masterpiece of Greek engineering

The Roman Amphitheatre

The Athenaion of the tyrant Gelon

King Hyblon’s kingdom: Pantalica, between history and legend

Piazza del Duomo, a sacred place of the ancient Greeks

The Ear of Dionysius and the Grotta dei Cordari

Legends and magic echoes in the Latomie of Syracuse

Giudecca, the hidden Jewish heart of Syracuse

Pantalica: where nature and history merge

Inside the Cathedral of Ortygia

The Senatorial Palace

Temple of Apollo

The Greek Theatre of Syracuse

The functions of Castello Maniace

The Museion and the Grotta del Ninfeo

The Jews, a wandering people

Roman Syracuse, a military power thanks to the genius of Archimedes

The Euryalus Fortress

The Culture of Pantalica

The architecture of the Piazza

The cultural significance of tragedy

Byzantine Pantalica

The Spanish fortification

Syracuse during the tyranny of Dionysius

The Church of San Giovanni alle Catacombe

Where seas and civilisations meet

Traces of Christianity in Syracuse

The Church of St. Lucia to the Abbey

Neapolis from past to present

Castello Maniace

The Gladiator performances

Ortygia. Venus rising from the waters of the port

The catacombs of San Giovanni

The Venationes