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.
The temple was a pioneering experiment: here Greek builders tried for the first time in the West to translate the forms of Doric architecture into stone. The monolithic columns, stocky and closely spaced, tell of a young architecture still searching for its proportions.
Over the centuries the temple has been a Byzantine church, an Arab mosque, a Norman church again and even a Spanish barracks: every ruler reused it, and the marks of all these lives can still be read among the ruins.
The area can be viewed free of charge from Largo XXV Luglio, a stone's throw from the Ortigia market: it is the natural starting point of any visit to the island.
Practical tips
- Free view 24 hours a day from the balustrade surrounding the excavations.
- Come in the morning and combine it with the Ortigia market, right next door.
