Syracuse

Temple of Apollo

Monument · free entry · 37.06403, 15.29302

Largo XXV Luglio, 96100 Siracusa

the first thing you come across entering Ortigia, in the square after the bridge. It dates from the first years of the sixth century BC, and the Comune calls it the oldest Doric temple in Sicily, the first with a stone colonnade: six columns on the front and seventeen on the sides, all monolithic. On the steps of the east side there is still the inscription of Cleomenes, who signed the temple, and Epicles, who made the columns. It was a Byzantine church, a mosque, a Norman church and then a barracks, and it was freed only from the 1940s. Today two whole columns and the foundations remain. The enclosure is closed: it is seen from outside, from the street, at any hour.

Ortigia market

Market · free entry · 37.06511, 15.29351

Via Emanuele De Benedictis, 96100 Siracusa

the market of fish, fruit and spices, in the pedestrian streets behind the Temple of Apollo, via De Benedictis and via del Mercato. It is held in the morning, not on Sundays, and towards lunchtime the stalls close: the Comune does not publish the hours. It is the place for the fish of the day, fruit and spices.

Piazza Duomo

Square · free entry · 37.05947, 15.29311

Piazza Duomo, 96100 Siracusa

the square rebuilt in Baroque style after the 1693 earthquake, the heart of Ortigia. Around it stand the cathedral, the Palazzo Vermexio, which is the town hall, the Palazzo Beneventano del Bosco and at the end, on the south side, the church of Santa Lucia alla Badia. In the evening it is the city's drawing room.

Syracuse Cathedral

Church · paid entry · 37.05958, 15.29382

Piazza Duomo 3, 96100 Siracusa

the cathedral of the Nativity of Mary is the Doric temple of Athena, which the tyrant Gelon had built in the fifth century BC after the victory over the Carthaginians at Himera: six columns on the front and fourteen on the sides. The Christians turned it into a church by walling up the spaces between the columns, the Arabs into a mosque, the Normans into a church again, and the columns can still be seen, inside the aisles and from outside, on the side facing piazza Minerva. The Baroque façade is eighteenth century, finished in 1753, with the statues of San Marciano and Santa Lucia at the sides of the flight of steps. In the chapel of Santa Lucia is the silver effigy of the saint, the one that comes out in May and December. Visits are run by Secret Siracusa.

Opening hours the ticket office from Monday to Saturday, from October to April 9:00-17:30, from May to September 9:00-18:30; on Sundays it is closed, and during services there are no visits. In December it is also closed on the 8th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 25th, in January on the 1st, 13th, 23rd and 24th · 2 euros, plus 1 euro of fees when buying online; 4 euros with the Secreta Palatii, 7 with the virtual reality headset · 0931 64694 · secretsiracusa.it

Santa Lucia alla Badia

Church · 37.05842, 15.29328

Via Santa Lucia alla Badia 2, 96100 Siracusa

the church that closes piazza Duomo on the south side, with its Baroque façade. It is here that the effigy of Santa Lucia stays for a week in May, after the procession of the feast of the Quails, and here that the niche of San Sebastiano is opened in January. Caravaggio's Burial of Saint Lucy, which had been brought here in 2011, is no longer here: since December 2020 it has been back at Santa Lucia al Sepolcro. No official source publishes the opening hours.

Fountain of Arethusa

Monument · free entry · 37.05727, 15.29291

Largo Aretusa, 96100 Siracusa

a pool of fresh water a few metres from the sea, below a belvedere that is what remains of the bastion of Charles V, with ducks and papyrus. The legend is that of the nymph Arethusa, whom Artemis turned into a spring to save her from the river god Alpheus: she resurfaced here, in Ortigia, and he followed her under the sea. Cicero described it full of fish, Pindar and Virgil sang of it, and Nelson took on water here in July 1798, before the battle of Aboukir. In 1540 it was enclosed within the fortifications, and it has had its present shape since 1847. It is seen from the belvedere, at any hour, and it is the place for the sunset over the Porto Grande.

Castello Maniace

Castle · paid entry · 37.05342, 15.29564

Via Castello Maniace 51, 96100 Siracusa

Frederick II's castle on the tip of Ortigia, among the most important monuments of the Swabian age. It takes its name from the Byzantine general George Maniakes, but excavations have found nothing of his fort. Inside there is a large hypostyle hall, full of columns and cross vaults, around a courtyard; King Peter of Aragon stayed here in 1288, and the queens of the Camera Reginale until the sixteenth century. Tickets are sold by the INDA Foundation, also on TicketOne. Nobody publishes the hours for autumn 2026: the Archaeological Park's October timetable does not mention the castle, and before going, phone ahead.

6 euros, reduced 3 under 25 · 0931 487248

Palazzo Bellomo Regional Gallery

Museum · 37.05778, 15.29448

Via Giuseppe Maria Capodieci, 96100 Siracusa

the regional art gallery of Syracuse, in a medieval palace a short walk from the Fountain of Arethusa. The painting people come in for is the Annunciation by Antonello da Messina, from 1474, which came here from Palazzolo Acreide and since 2021 has been in a room air-conditioned especially for it. The Region does not publish today's hours and prices: ask before going.

Papyrus Museum

Museum · 37.06050, 15.29809

Via Nizza 14, 96100 Siracusa

a small museum in the former convent of Sant'Agostino, on Ortigia's eastern seafront, founded in 1987 by Corrado Basile and Anna Di Natale. It tells the story of papyrus, the plant and the paper, and of Syracuse's link with the plant, which grows here at the Fountain of Arethusa. The museum does not publish the price.

Opening hours Tuesday to Sunday 10:00-14:00, closed on Monday · 0931 22100 · museodelpapiro.it

Santa Lucia al Sepolcro and the Caravaggio

Church · 37.07305, 15.29116

Piazza Santa Lucia, 96100 Siracusa

the basilica of the Borgata, on the mainland, built where tradition says Lucia was martyred and buried. Inside is the Burial of Saint Lucy, which Caravaggio painted in 1608 for this church, when he arrived from Malta: the two huge gravediggers in the foreground, the saint on the ground, the small crowd beneath a towering wall. The painting had been taken to the Badia in 2011; restored in Rome, it came back here in December 2020. On 13 December the procession brings the effigy here, where it stays until the octave, and a fair is held around the square. Next door is the catacomb of Santa Lucia, which is a separate visit, with a charge. No official source publishes the basilica's hours.

Catacombs and basilica of San Giovanni

Monument · paid entry · 37.07680, 15.28486

Largo San Marciano 3, 96100 Siracusa

above is the basilica of San Giovanni Evangelista, of the sixth century, now open to the sky, with its Norman façade and rose window, built where tradition places the tomb of San Marciano, the first bishop of Syracuse: for centuries it was the cathedral. Below is the catacomb, a main gallery of about a hundred metres with thousands of burials cut into the rock, and the old cisterns turned into chapels, such as the Rotonda di Adelfia, where the sarcophagus now in the Paolo Orsi museum was found. In the crypt of San Marciano there are thirteenth century frescoes. The visit is with a guide only, in Italian or English, and it starts when the group is large enough. The operator has not yet published the hours for November and December.

Opening hours with the guided tour, in September and October every day 9:30-12:30 and 14:30-17:30; in January closed from the 7th to the 31st · 12 euros, reduced 9 from 6 to 15 years, free under 6; tickets are sold on site only · 0931 64694 · secretsiracusa.it

Paolo Orsi Archaeological Museum

Museum · paid entry · 37.07646, 15.28626

Viale Teocrito 66, 96100 Siracusa

one of the largest archaeological museums in Europe, in the park of Villa Landolina, a short walk from the Von Platen area. The building is by Franco Minissi, opened in 1988. On the first floor the prehistory of eastern Sicily and the Greek colonies, on the second Hellenistic and Roman Syracuse, with the sarcophagus of Adelfia from the catacombs of San Giovanni and the Venus Landolina, the two finds from which the museum was born. On the ground floor the Medagliere, one of the most famous coin collections in the world, which can be seen only early in the morning. It is run by the Archaeological Park, which publishes the hours month by month: November's can be checked from the first of the month.

Opening hours in October Tuesday to Saturday 9:00-19:00, the ticket office closes at 18:00; on holidays 9:00-13:45, and the Park says nothing about Sundays; closed on Monday. The Medagliere only 9:00-11:00 · 10 euros, reduced 5; on the first Sunday of the month entry is free · 0931 489511 · parchiarcheologici.regione.sicilia.it

Sanctuary of the Madonna delle Lacrime

Church · free entry · 37.07472, 15.28552

Via del Santuario 33, 96100 Siracusa

the cone about a hundred metres high that can be seen from all over the city, on the mainland near the stopover. It commemorates the weeping of a small enamelled plaster picture of the Madonna, between 29 August and 1 September 1953, in the home of a young married couple in via degli Orti di San Giorgio. The French architects Michel Andrault and Pierre Parat won it in an international competition, and John Paul II inaugurated it on 6 November 1994. Below is the circular crypt, from 1968, with the reliquary of the tears, and there is a small museum, open every day 9:30-12:30. The sanctuary publishes the times of masses and not the opening hours.

0931 21446 · madonnadellelacrime.it

Castello Eurialo

Castle · 37.09217, 15.22410

Viale Epipoli, Belvedere, 96100 Siracusa

the Greek fortress on the Epipolae plateau, seven kilometres west of Ortigia. Dionysius began it at the start of the fourth century BC, at the top of a circuit of walls more than 27 kilometres long, and Agathocles and Hiero II rebuilt it: three moats, a keep with five towers, a network of tunnels cut into the rock. It has been closed since June 2024, for lack of custodians, and the Archaeological Park's October 2026 timetable still lists it as closed. Before going up, phone the Park on 0931 489511.

The Plemmirio and the lighthouse of Capo Murro di Porco

Trail · free entry · 37.00316, 15.33506

the marine protected area on the Maddalena peninsula, the land that closes the Porto Grande to the south, opposite Ortigia. Along the coast runs a path of about ten kilometres, on foot or by bicycle, from Punta Castelluccio to the lighthouse of Capo Murro di Porco and on to via degli Zaffiri, with coves and views of Ortigia; it is not for small children. You go down to the sea by 35 numbered access points, and some are closed because of landslides. The Consorzio does not say where to leave the motorhome.

0931 449310 · plemmirio.eu