If one were unfortunate enough to be given just one city to visit in Sicily it would have to be Siracusa, ‘Syracuse’. Divided between the mainland of the island of Sicily and the islet of Ortygia, its name deriving from ancient Greek for ‘quail (perhaps because of its shape? Or because it was once the home of quails which are table delectation for many Italians) the city was founded by the Greeks in 743 BC and rapidly grew flourishing especially after one of its tyrants Geione vanquished the Carthaginians at the battle of Himera.  Syracuse became the principal city of Magna Graecia under his successor Gerone and turned into a major cultural centre; for example, poet Pindar and playwright Aeschylus both lived at the tyrant’s court.

The status of Syracuse diminished under the Romans and the city entered into a long period of decline. Now, although its area is just a fraction of what the ancient city occupied I found the place happy, prosperous and quite fascinating.

We had booked a hotel in Ortygia and in the morning met up with our friend Giovanni who was to be our guide during our couple of days there. And what a guide! Already well-known for his moonlight trips around the temple of Minerva south of Florence and guardian of the Brunelleschi-designed fortress of Vicopisano Giovanni is equally knowledgeable about the distinguished history of Syracuse. He took us for a walk round Ortygia.

We strolled through the market:

We wandered to the end of the island which is defended by the eleventh century castle of Maniace elaborated into its present gothic form by Frederick II.

We saw the enchanted fountain of Arethusa so evocatively described in music by Szymanowski and also where Giovanni met his partner Andrea whose civil union we attended at Vicopisano fortress in 2018.

We entered a spacious square and stepped inside what we imagined to be the baroque cathedral of the city only to find that we were, in fact, within the cella of a Greek temple with the peristyle closed in to form a giant nave in the seventh century.  What a sensation it is to enter into a building that has been continuously dedicated to religious rites for close on three thousand years!

Giovanni also pointed out to us some of the lesser known wonders of Ortygia. One of these was an ancient ritual Jewish bath discovered under the foundations of a present-day hotel.

We also passed by the fountain of Diana, a monumental cascade dating from 1907 by Giulio Moschetti, with the collaboration of his sculptor son Mario Moschetti and located in Piazza Archimede in Syracuse.

I remember this fountain when, as a very young boy, I was taken there by my Catania university professor uncle and took this picture then.

Archimedes was another famous citizen of Syracuse and it is fitting that a square has been named after him.  Considered as one of the greatest scientists and mathematicians in history, Archimedes’ contributions range from geometry to hydrostatics, from optics to mechanics: he was able to calculate the surface and volume of spheres and discovered the laws governing the buoyancy of bodies; in the engineering field, he discovered and exploited the operating principles of levers and his very name is associated with numerous machines and devices, such as the Archimedean screw, demonstrating his amazing inventive ability. Still surrounded by an aura of mystery, however, are the war machines that Archimedes would have prepared to defend Syracuse from the siege by the Romans. Was it all done by mirrors I wonder?

Today, however, Archimedes’ life is remembered through numerous anecdotes, especially the one about his exclaiming eureka!  when, naked, he ran excitedly through the streets after jumping from his bath having discovered the theory of the displacement of water in the calculation of volumes. Actually, although not quite in such a direct manner, scientists continue to get equally excited about their discoveries especially the recent ones involving vaccines which may finally rid us of this pestilential Covid-19! The spirit of Archimedes thankfully lives on!

We had, however, yet to discover the wonders of an ancient Greek colony that lay on the mainland half of Syracuse…