What to see in Ortigia
The island's unmissable stops: for each one you will find its history, practical tips and the audio guide track.
Ortigia can only be explored on foot and is an open-air museum: in less than a square kilometre you go from the oldest Doric temple in Sicily to one of the most beautiful baroque squares in Italy. Here are the stops worth the trip, in the order that follows the island's natural path, from the entrance bridge to the tip on the sea.
145 minSyracuse Cathedral
A Greek temple turned cathedral
Syracuse Cathedral is one of the most extraordinary places in Sicily: a baroque cathedral built inside a 5th-century BC Greek temple, whose Doric columns are still perfectly visible, embedded in the walls.
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230 minPiazza Duomo
Ortigia's baroque drawing room
Piazza Duomo is considered one of the most beautiful squares in Italy: a crescent-shaped baroque stage, entirely paved in white stone, born on the highest and most sacred point of the island.
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320 minArethusa Spring
Fresh water rising beside the sea
The Arethusa Spring is one of the most poetic places in Ortigia: a freshwater spring flowing just a few metres from the sea, filled with papyrus plants and tied to one of the most beautiful myths of Magna Graecia.
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41 hManiace Castle
Frederick II's fortress at the island's tip
Maniace Castle occupies the far tip of Ortigia, where the island meets the open sea. It is one of the most important buildings of Frederick II in Italy and offers the widest panorama in all of Syracuse.
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515 minTemple of Apollo
The oldest Doric temple in Sicily
Just after crossing the bridge into Ortigia, the ruins of the Temple of Apollo welcome you like a threshold in time: it is the oldest stone Doric temple in Sicily, built at the beginning of the 6th century BC.
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645 minOrtigia Market
The city that talks, smells and tastes
The Ortigia market, just steps from the Temple of Apollo, is where the island shows its truest soul: the vendors' calls, freshly landed fish, Pachino tomatoes and spices.
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715 minPiazza Archimede
The elegant square with the Fountain of Diana
Piazza Archimede is the elegant heart of Ortigia: a crossroads of noble palaces around the theatrical Fountain of Diana, dedicated to the myth that gave the island its origin.
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845 minThe Giudecca and the Jewish Bath
The Jewish quarter and one of Europe's oldest mikvehs
The Giudecca is the quarter where the Jewish community of Syracuse, one of the most important in Sicily, lived for centuries. Hidden among its alleys is a unique treasure: a ritual bath (mikveh) carved into the rock, among the oldest in Europe.
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930 minLungomare Alfeo
The sunset promenade
The Lungomare Alfeo is Ortigia's best-loved promenade: from the Arethusa Spring towards Maniace Castle, suspended between the walls and the Great Harbour, with the city's most beautiful sunsets.
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1020 minSanta Lucia alla Badia
The hidden Caravaggio in Piazza Duomo
At the southern corner of Piazza Duomo, the church of Santa Lucia alla Badia holds an absolute masterpiece: the "Burial of Saint Lucy", painted by Caravaggio in 1608 during his Sicilian flight.
Read more →Visit Ortigia with the audio guide
Short, curated stories for every stop, at your own pace, straight from your phone. No app to install.