I'll admit, I wasn't the biggest fan of Siracusa as we rolled into its modern center. It was rather lacking in charm, and our B&B was a bit far removed from the historical center (usually the best place to stay in any old-ish city, in my opinion), but it turned out to be a quiet location with a really nice view.
Hello, harbor.
We began our stay in Siracusa with an utterly failed attempt to go find this little church with catacombs, theoretically a 10-minute walk from our hotel, but not so much when you end up outside the wrong set of city walls instead of in. (Oops.) So we turned around and I took a nap, and then we headed into Ortygia, Siracusa's old town, for dinner. (Had we been without car, we absolutely would have stayed in Ortygia; however, in many of these towns, it's legitimately impossible to find parking--many hotels don't offer any at all--which is kinda a drawback when you've rented a car to get around.) We ate at Don Camillo, a seafood restaurant in a very cool old building, where the obvious stand-out of the night was Mike's shellfish soup with angel hair pasta and cherry tomatoes. (The rest of the food was just fine, but ohhhhhhh, that soup.)
The next day, we set out to check out some of Siracusa's catacombs. The 4th- and 5th-century catacombs of San Giovanni are extensive--Siracusa hosts the second-largest system in the world, after Rome's!--and really impressive; a Greek aqueduct was appropriated for their construction, and so the walkways are extremely roomy, unlike others we've seen, and there are a handful of massive domed halls (previously cisterns) along the way, used for wealthy families' and nobles' burials. And a smattering of very early Christian symbols and small frescoes. Also on-site is the 6th-century crypt of San Marciano, with its ornate Norman column capitals and frescoes. It is amazing...and of course, since it's an active place of worship, no photos are allowed anywhere. So please enjoy these photos of the above-ground ruins of the church of San Giovanni, the story of which is unreal: originally a Greek prison, and then a pagan pottery workshop, and finally a Christian cemetery before it was converted in the 6th century into Siracusa's first cathedral (built over the already-existing catacombs and crypt); destroyed in the 9th century by Muslim invaders, then rebuilt in the 11th/12th by the Normans; reduced to ruins by the 1693 earthquake; and rebuilt in the 18th century with improper materials that caused the church to return to the state of disrepair that exists there today.
Here's what's left and has been restored. Behind that those arches are the remnants of the main 14th-century entrance.
A few of the original remaining Doric columns and the Norman rose window. Underneath that is the bricked-in Norman entrance to the church. (S. Giovanni has the unusual distinction of having two primary facades.)
Since it was litrally* next door, we decided to check out Siracusa's stellar regional archaeology museum. It is massive and fantastic, and utterly worth however many hours it takes you to walk through. And despite the fact that I took about a jillion photos there, I will show some restraint here and present to you my highlights.
Sicily, my dears, was once home to pygmy elephants. (I want one!) Here, a Palaeoloxodon falconeri skeleton. These little guys topped out at 90 cm in height, and lived on the island between 500,000 and 300,000 years ago.
This is a Rodi-Tindari-Vallelunga-style dipper from between 2200 and 1600 BC, not that I have any idea what the significance of that is... I just thought the style was really interesting, in that its decorative nature almost entirely subsumes its usefulness. (There were other pots, something like these, that demonstrated this better, but stupid glass glare...)
Massive basin made near Siracusa between the 15th and 9th centuries BC. Um...does this thing remind anyone else of Chairy? Just asking. For a friend.
Teeny, tiny little oil storage vase from around 550 BC. This museum has a vast and unbelievable collection of Greek-era pottery, some massive, and some unbelievably small. (This thing is no more than 2 inches high, and look at that detail.)
First- or second-century Roman statue of Asklepios, the chest of which is carved with a 16th- or 17th-century Spanish inscription dedicating Siracusa's castle (Castello Maniace) to various patron saints of the city.
An inscription from the catacombs of S. Giovanni, honoring "seven virgins" buried in one of its cistern chambers. (The inscription also says that two of them, Fotina and Filomena, lived to ages 80 and 84, which, as you can imagine, was quite a rarity in the 4th and 5th centuries.)
Another piece from the catacombs: the utterly spectacular sarcophagus of Adelfia, created during the Roman era in the 4th century and carved with scenes Old and New Testament.
After a quick snack, we headed a tiny bit further into the newer part of Siracusa...in order to get to one of its oldest parts, the Greek amphitheater and surrounding archaeological park. (Full day of archaeology? Don't mind if we do.)
This sign greeted us near the park entrance: "A colony of loving archeo-cats lives here, to be respected and protected." Be still, my heart full of kittens. (Directly underneath this sign was a little cat chowing down on a plate of shrimp heads, so I feel like they're doing a good job here.)
View over the Latomia del Paradiso (Quarry of Paradise), basically a man-made canyon quarried into the limestone rock in antiquity. Later, the latomie were used as prisons, an much later, they were transformed into fruit and flower gardens by Franciscan monks. (It was so lush and cool and shady down at the bottom that I had a difficult time leaving.)
Behold, the Greek amphitheater. Granted, this thing took its current form near the end of the 3rd century BC, so its survival is something of a miracle, but it's definitely less than overwhelming when covered with wooden benches and stage lighting and other modern theater accoutrement for the upcoming summer theater season. (The fare? Greek tragedies, of course.)
We found the things at the top of the amphitheater much more interesting. For example, this street lined with Byzantine tombs (and some seriously deep, possible-chariot tracks...?).
And sooooooo many statue niches carved into the rock walls at the top.
And the Grotta del Ninfeo, or grotto of the nymphs, an artificial waterfall in a cave, fed by still-functioning Greek aqueducts. (You know, built sometime between the 8th and 3rd centuries BC.)
The water creates a little pond in this rectangular basin, and then flows out somewhere at the base of the amphitheater. (Extraordinary.)
There's also a Roman amphitheater in the archaeological park, but it's in slightly less stellar shape, as its blocks were looted by the Spanish-Emperor-and-Holy-Roman-Emperor Charles V in the 16th century, in order to fortify the city's defenses.
It's a rather romantic ruin, anyway.
After basically a full day of sweating in and around old stuff, we got cleaned up and headed to Ortygia for dinner at Trattoria O'Scina, a bustling little place in the narrow streets of the old city. And look, I'm sure whatever Mike ate was delicious, but as for me, my sarde beccafico (sardines stuffed with bread crumbs, pine nuts, raisins, citrus juice, and parsley), pasta alla Norma (eggplant, tomato sauce, and ricotta salata), and wee glass of house-made limoncello were spectacular.
The next morning, we decided to make our way to Castello Maniace, on the southern point of Ortygia (which, FYI, is actually an island).
On our way, passed several fruit trucks...
...and the Fonte Aretusa, a freshwater pond full of fish and papyrus, right by the ocean. (It's rather Victorian, in a Lady of Shallott sort of way, but charming, and surprisingly large.)
The castle was originally constructed in the 13th century by Frederick II of Swabia (that guy was everywhere on this island!), but it wasn't until the 16th century (Charles V strikes again) that it became a true fortress.
Sooooo many cannon emplacements. (Sadly, the spectacular interior hall was closed for repairs, so we saw all there was to see outside, and got the heck out. At least it was cheap.)
Next, we made an entirely unplanned stop at the very quiet, and slightly out-of-the-way, Museo Palazzo Bellomo. Totally worth it.
Part of a 9th-century stone portal from the no-longer-extant San Sebastian church.
TOTALLY AMAZING DOUBLE-SIDED CARVED STONE THING. On this side, the 15th-century tombstone of a Spanish knight...
...and on this one, a pieta of John the Baptist and Mary Magdalene.
No idea why--or even whether--this thing was put to double use, but so amazing.
A 16th- or 17th-century painting by Emanuele Lampardo, depicting the "creation of the animals." Um...I get the impression that Signore Lampardo had never actually seen any sea creatures, or any sort of land-based bird, for that matter...
I also liked his "Adam and Eve (plus unicorns)." (That's what I'm titling it, anyway.)
Sixteenth- or seventeenth-century Syracusan ceramic plate with metallic luster. (So pretty.)
Figure from a wax 19th-century, Sicilian-made presepe...because, you know, the famous Nativity bagpiper.
Out front, some 15th-century Jewish tombstones from the Santa Lucia district of Siracusa.
Post-museum, we stopped in to grab lunch at this adorable little place around the corner, where the owners were making fresh piadinas and selling locally-produced beverages. This is my heaven, people.
Absolute gluttons would order both a cheese-and-meat plate, as well as a piadina each. Sign us up. (Mike's was Parma ham, squacqerone cheese, and arugula, and amazing, and mine, after much dithering, was squacquerone and grilled veggies and just not as good.)
Next, we ducked underground to check out the tunnels underneath the cathedral square. Parts of these were built in the 17th century for water collection; some were quarried in the 18th century to build the cathedral facade; and all of it was expanded during WWII for use as air-raid shelters.
Said cathedral square, by the way, looks like this. Stunning.
This is one of the most interesting cathedrals I've seen, and you know I've seen a few. This thing has this baroque facade...
...but it was actually built in the 7th century, over the 5th-century-BC temple of Athena. Yes, those are Greek columns embedded in the wall.
They're visible on the inside, too. Un-freaking-real.
After we finished poking around the cathedral, we headed back to the mainland (with a brief stop for refreshment in the Piazza Archimede) to get scrubbed up for dinner, then tromped back to Ortygia to dine at La Gazza Ladra, another small-and-busy place in the old town. The food wasn't as excellent as I'd hoped, but my tuna caponata and cod in tomatoes, herbs, and butter was quite nice. Even nicer, though, was afterwards, when we crossed the street to La Vineria cafe for some outdoor aperitifs, and they gave us free cookies. And the weather had cooled off quite nicely, and there was music all over the place--a guy playing rather grandiose piano in the restaurant nearby, and then a roving band of guys in costume playing rowdy Sicilian folk-music. It was a genuinely wonderful way to pass our final evening in Sicily.
The next morning, we headed out of town to the Latomia dei Cappuccini, the Capuchins' Quarry, which is the largest, deepest, and oldest of these in the city. Originally created by the Greeks as a quarry, it was used as a prison after the Peloponnesian War (413 BC); as an early Christian cemetery during 4th throuth 6th centuries AD; and then it became a lovely garden under Capuchin ownership, which began in 1582. Because it's slightly off the beaten path, we were the only people there, and it was glorious.
Descending from street level down into the quarry, which, like Paradiso, is shady and cool and refreshing and delightful.
Scattered throughout are these big spikes of rock, which were left behind, Mike surmised, because they were the wrong kind of stone to be quarried.
Entrance to the Little Theater, created sometime during the Friars' ownership.
Early Chrstian arcosolia tomb (arched niche containing a sarcophagus). These were common both here and in the catacombs.
Seating-for-hundreds inside the Big Theater, which opened in 1953. (So, basically a symbol of 2000-plus years of constant use of this site.)
Next, because we had hours to kill before our flight, we stopped through the very pretty--if almost entirely empty and shut down, because Easter Sunday (FYI: good luck finding food on Easter Sunday in Sicily, by the way, if you're not already part of a large Sicilian family that's rented out an entire restaurant)--little town of Palazzolo Acreide, known for its astounding Greek theater, which was, naturally, closed.
They sure had some excellent Liberty-style buildings, though. (Actually, those were scattered throughout every single place we went, with the possible exception of Taormina. There's some really gorgeous Art Nouveau in southeastern Sicily, if you're looking for it. Which I compulsively do.)
Oh, hello again, fancy face-corbels.
Like I said, very pretty. And I'd happily go spend a few days there, not just because it's quiet and lovely, but especially because it's right next to the necropolis at Pantalica. (Want to go so, sooooo badly...)
Failing to find sustenance other than coffee and pastries (oh, but what pastries they were) in Palazzolo Acreide, we gave up and headed towards Catania. Because it was so late in the afternoon, though, we had to settle for a rather disappointing lunch in a terrible tourist restaurant near the duomo (stupid lunch hours). But at least I got a couple more good photos of Catania...
I cannot get over how beautiful Piazza Duomo is.
And, because Mike found a really excellent parking lot just outside the piazza, I got to take this shot, which shows, I think, some of the the surviving Norman part of the (then-fortified) cathedral! (Made of volcanic rock, of course.)
And with that, we headed towards the airport, and then home. I was quite relieved to be headed towards my own bed and my own cats, but make no mistake: I'd go back to any or all of the cities we visited in a heartbeat. I loved Sicily so much that I got home and immediately started looking at real estate, and that is neither a lie nor an exaggeration. Want to live there. I loved the people, the history, the food, the landscape, everything. That island is the absolute best, and we've only seen a third of it. More to come, someday, I guarantee.
Up next: Mike's surprise birthday trip to the cold, cold Baltics. (Well, two of them, anyway.)
*I know, I know, this word is literally the most overused in the English language (and, most likely, the most incorrectly used). However. This. (That's also why I'm going to spell it that way from now on. Hee.)
.jpg){kind=link}
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.