Top Things to See in Ortigia

We followed Rick Steves' Ortigia Walk.

Start at Ponte Umberto I and walk to the statue of Archimedes. The Palazzo delle Poste is the grand building behind him.

Archimedes--the 3rd century BC mathematician and physicist was Siracusa's most famous resident.

His statue stands on an Archimedes box--a puzzle with 14 pieces that can be assembled in 536 ways to form a square.

Archimedes also came up with the value of pi--the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter is approximately 3.141592.

Cruise ship in port

The neo-Venetian building from the 19th century sits on Ortigia at the end of Santa Lucia Bridge.

On the other side of the bridge, you'll find a kayak-polo net, a reminder that Italy won the sport's world championship here in 2016.

Walk onto the square in Ortigia to find a field of ruins and the Temple of Apollo. It is one of the earliest stone temples and predates the Parthenon by 130 years.

Nearby is the Ortigia Street Market, open Mon-Sat from 0700-1400, closed on Sundays.

Piazza Archimede with fountain dedicated to Artemis, the huntress.

Fascist building with reliefs celebrating employment, which had been promised by Mussolini.

Siracusa Cathedral--the Baroque facade is from 1750.

On the side of the cathedral, you'll find evidence of it serving as a fortress in the early 1000s. The cathedral started as a temple and you can see the original steps of the temple at the base.

The City Hall sits in Piazza Duomo.

Next to the City Hall is the townhouse of the Beneventano family.

Church of Santa Lucia alla Badia.

Inside is a Caravaggio painting, "The Burial of Santa Lucia."

The end of the walk ends in a square overlooking the Fountain of Arethusa.

Fountain of Arethusa was the original freshwater spring that made Siricusa a desirable place for Greek settlers in the 8th century BC. The fountain has papyrus.

Paved terrace next to the fountain with a spiral painted into the pavement. This is a nod to Archimede's screw.

2022 04 19