After four full days in Palermo, we made our way back to the airport and rented a car for the drive to Siracusa. This 3h30m drive covered a lot of remote mountain terrain across the middle of the island. Parking near our apartment in Siracusa was only moderately challenging and the GPS got us through the outer portions of the city with minor challenges (we only needed to circle one roundabout more than once).
Siracusa's old town is a peninsula called Ortigia, a short walk from our accommodation. A Greek city in Antiquity, it was home to Archimedes and was for a period the biggest Greek city anywhere, bigger even than Athens. Here's me looking up to my buddy Archie.
There are some vestigial Greek ruins in Ortigia but we didn't make it to the larger Roman ruins on the outskirts of town. As with the rest of Sicily, there was a revolving door of invaders and occupants, drawn by the natural port formed by the peninsula. The waterfront is more accessible than in Palermo and locals were out swimming in several locations.
Like Palermo there are plenty of little market streets and squares, with a network of little laneways that is even more chaotic than Palermo's. FiCo restaurant, just off the square in front of the Duomo, is highly recommended.
The Fountain of Diana, Arethusa and three Tritons looks antique but was in fact made in 1906.
A network of little laneways sometimes lead to the next street, and sometimes to a dead end. Google Maps can be of real assistance here.
Moving onto the churches, this one was built, if I recall correctly, by the Knights of Malta. I presume it has been thoroughly searched for the wealth of the Templars which vanished following King Philip IV of France having senior members of the order arrested, tortured into giving false confessions, then burned at the stake. I am sure the fact Philip owed the Templars a pile of money did not enter into this judicial decision at all.
The Duomo and its marble-paved plazza is suitably impressive but we didn't visit inside. Down the street was a building formerly serving as a college for students of the Jesuits.
The Borgia residence is across the plaza from the Duomo and is open to visitors in the evenings. Some of the rooms reminded me of the scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey where Frank, now elderly and wearing a dressing gown, is eating a meal when the pod appears.
We also spent two days driving around the southeast of the island. The coast leading to Isola delle Correnti, the southernmost point in Sicily (further south than Tunis, apparently), features sandy beaches at the Riserva naturale orientata Oasi Faunistica di Vendicari, a medieval fishing village at Marzamemi, and random Greek ruins. The southern tip is however rather anticlimactic unless you are prepared to wade over to the abandoned castle on the island (best to do this at low tide).
Far more spectacular is Ragusa, clinging to a narrow canyon wall. A day was not really enough to explore the old part of this city and additional time should have been allocated for this and other similar hill towns such as Modica.
There are plenty of stairs between parallel streets.
The view from the rooftop restaurant La Terrazza
dell'Orologio shows the new town at the top of the bluff, and also illustrates a range of maintenance issues not visible from the street.
There is a cathedral, as expected, but fewer churches.
Chiesa di
Sant'Agnese was an exception, down a narrow dead-end.
I particularly like this picture, old town to the right, new town above left. We didn't make it to the new town due to lack of time.
We also explored the Jewish past in both Palermo and Siracusa. Jews appear to have been present and well integrated into at least Siracusa, and possibly also Palermo, from at least the 1st century CE. Sicily being under the control of the Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1492, Jews were expelled after 15 centuries as they were from Spain and Portugal. Today remnants of this history can be found on the ground. While not the result of exhaustive research, I describe some findings we stumbled across.
Chiostro della Chiesa della Magione, Via Magione, 44, 90133 Palermo
The well in the cloister of this Norman church, built in 1191 on the remains of a mosque, includes stones, possibly taken from a Jewish tomb originally onsite, with Hebrew inscriptions.
Old Jewish quarter at Via Meschita, Vicolo Meschita and Piazzetta Meschita, Palermo
A Google search for the term ‘synagogue’ in Palermo brought up this abandoned church supposedly in renovation to become a synagogue. Via Meschita is today a narrow rundown street with no visible Jewish presence except for the street signs in Hebrew and Arabic; in fact the neighbourhood today seems to host a large number of stores with Arabic names.
Some references we discovered later imply the word ‘meschita’ is an old Hebrew word used for a mosque, or in at least one example a synagogue; perhaps it more loosely means place of worship.
Chiesa di San Filippo Apostolo, Piazza S. Filippo, 96100 Siracusa
The old Jewish quarter of Siracusa centers on Via della Giudecca where there is a bookstore (Libri da scrivere, Via della Giudecca, 38) carrying English summaries of Jewish and other local history.
Across the street from the bookstore stands Chiesa di San Filippo Apostolo. Tours are available of catacombs centered on Greek-era wells connected by Roman-era tunnels and waterworks, all used most recently as bomb shelters in 1941-43; one descends via a trap door in the church entrance.
While the tour is fascinating, the connection of the well immediately under the church to pre-1492 Jewish ritual baths is disputed. See the book by Angela Scandalito and Nuccio Mulè for an outline of the confusion around the link between this church, known as Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista pre-1492, and the empty, roofless church currently known as Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista (see below), built on what was likely the location of a (the?) synagogue of Siracusa prior to 1492. The book also includes excellent maps and diagrams.
Also in the area are 4 Vicolos (Vicolo della Giudecca 1 through 4) and two other streets (Via del Crocifisso and Via Mario Minniti) which originally had Jewish names. Otherwise there is very little indication of current Jewish occupation or activity in the area.
Bagno ebraico - Mikweh, Via G.B. Alagona, 52, 96100 Siracusa
In her book, Amalia Daniele provides a very personal story
of the discovery of a mikweh underneath the building she bought, derelict, and
converted over a number of years into the Alla Giudecca hotel at Via G.B.
Alagona, 52. It is possible to tour the baths below this hotel, which are also described in the
book by Scandalito and Mulè. It is likely that this bath, unconnected to the
larger Roman-era tunnels and waterworks, is in fact historically accurate. We took no photos as they are prohibited, but the poster provides an excellent view and is much better lit than would have been possible with our cellphones.
Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista, Piazza del Precursore, 96100 Siracusa
This church, which was likely built on the remains of a
synagogue post-1492, took the name of the church now known as Chiesa di San
Filippo Apostolo. Today the church is abandoned and roofless, but has apparently
been used by the owner of the Alla Giudecca hotel for historical events.
That's it! A great trip. Thanks for reading.
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