The main part of Greek and Roman Syracuse lies north of the islet of Ortygia and extends over a wider area than that occupied even by the modern city. It was divided into four quarters with the following names: Acradina (wild pear), Neapolis (New town), Tiche (after a temple), and Epipolis (outlying town). Here we visited the Greek theatre, one of the finest outside Greece and dating from the third century BC when the city was governed by Hieron I.

What would I have given to be time-transported to the days when the lost plays of Euripides, Sophocles and Aeschylus were acted on this stage!

Nearby are the giant quarries called latomie which were later used as prisons. The largest of these, the Latomia Del Paradiso, is also nicknamed Dionysus’ ear not only for its earlobe-like shape but also because of its remarkable echo which can pick up the slightest whisper and, therefore, proved most useful for the guards gathering up any confabulations of escape uttered by the prisoners incarcerated there.

In 212 BC Syracuse became a Roman province after a battle during which Archimedes was killed while he was engrossed on a mathematical problem completely unaware of what was about to happen to him. That’s what I call utterly, barbaric ignorance…

In the second century AD the amphitheatre, second in size only to that of Verona, was completed. So gladiatorial combat and animals fights took over in popularity from classical Greek drama….

Giovanni also took us to visit his namesake’s church, a mystic early Christian building, San Giovanni alle catacombe. The ancient Basilica was built around the 6th century in the place where, according to tradition, the first bishop of Syracuse, Marciano, that died a martyr under Gallienus and Valerian (mid-3rd century), was buried. This church was once Syracuse’s cathedral.

On the way we passed a modern monstrosity of a church dedicated to the Madonna of the Tears whose image miraculously shed tears here in 1953. Giovanni ironically said that if she saw today what was constructed to honour the memory of this event the Madonna would shed even more tears!

We paid homage to the German poet August Von Platen who died of Cholera aged thirty nine in Syracuse and whose tomb is in the city’s non-catholic cemetry next to the fine archaeological museum founded by Paolo Orsi.. Giovanni laid a wreath in his memory:

Here is part of one of my favourite poems by Platen (my translation):

I wish I could always be as free as my dreams,
away from the flashy crowd,
and wander by the banks of placid streams
cooled by shadow-drifting clouds.

Free to shake off this weary weight
of human life, and rest instead
in nature’s perfect heart :
all summer singing around me.

….

And nothing would I drink or eat
save heaven’s clear sunlight and the spring
of earth’s own sweet welling waters,
that can never sting the heart.

My visit to Syracuse was also a trip down memory lane for I had been here before more years than I can to remember when I was guest of my Uncle the French literature professor at Catania University. Here are some photos from that time when I was not yet a teenager. The latomie and the amphitheatre can be recognized.

New Year’s Eve arrived and I was expecting to join the crowds of revellers in the Syracusan streets. Actually we celebrated at Giovanni’s partner’s parents’ place as we were advised that we could easily be injured by fireworks if we ventured outside at the midnight hour. It was wise advice as the noise from the ‘botte’ or bangers was deafening and they were launched in all directions. The following morning the streets were littered with the remains of this battle of the night.

It was sad for us to leave such a fascinating city as Syracuse and I have yet to keep a promise to return and visit it in more depth. I hope I can keep this promise next year for ‘if winter comes can spring be far behind?’