Free Walking Tour Syracuse: Neapolis to Ortigia

Your Syracuse Walking Tour, Stop by Stop: Mainland Ruins to Island Lanes

1. 1

   Paolo Orsi Regional Archaeological Museum

   

   You start among the finds before you see the places they came from. The Paolo Orsi Regional Archaeological Museum counts among the principal archaeological museums of Europe. It sits in the garden of Villa Landolina, in a modern building by the architect Franco Minissi that opened in January 1988, and it holds prehistoric, Greek and Roman artefacts from excavations in Syracuse and across Sicily.

   The collection is far older than its building. In 1780 Bishop Alagona opened a seminary museum, which became the city museum near the archbishop's house in 1808. A royal decree of 1878 created a national archaeological museum, inaugurated in 1886 on the cathedral square on Ortigia. Its defining figure was Paolo Orsi, who took charge in 1895 and stayed until 1934; his excavations filled the rooms so quickly that a new home became unavoidable. The present building opened in stages: first one floor and a basement with an auditorium, in 2006 an upper floor devoted to the classical period, and in 2014 a final expansion for the Sarcophagus of Adelphia and other finds from the city's catacombs.

   Begin in the central area, which tells the story of the museum and previews what each of the four sectors holds. Sector A reaches back furthest, with rocks and fossils of the animals that lived in Sicily in the Quaternary, introduced by a section on the geology of the Mediterranean and the Iblean area. If ancient history is why you came to Syracuse, the museum deserves a proper visit; it charges entry, and the context it gives makes the park and the temples on Ortigia much easier to read.

   From the museum it is 1450 m, about 20 minutes on foot, to the Neapolis Archaeological Park, where many of these stories are still in the ground.

   Local name

   Museo archeologico regionale Paolo Orsi

   Hours

   Tue–Sat 09:00–19:00 (ticket office closes 18:00), Sun and holidays 09:00–13:45 (ticket office closes 13:00), Mon closed

   Price

   10 EUR full, 5 EUR reduced

   Website

   parchiarcheologici.regione.sicilia.it ↗

   Location

   Paolo Orsi Regional Archaeological Museum on Google Maps ↗

2. 2

   Neapolis Archaeological Park

   

   The Neapolis Archaeological Park gathers much of ancient Syracuse in one place: the Greek theatre, the sanctuary of Apollo Temenites, the Roman amphitheatre, the Altar of Hieron II, the quarries known as latomie and the Grotticelle necropolis. The park was laid out in the early 1950s and completed in 1955. Look out too for the small church of San Nicolò dei Cordari from the 11th century. A theatre is documented here from the 5th century BC.

   The latomie are ancient stone quarries. The Greeks dug deep, because the limestone further down was easier to work, and left pillars of rock standing to hold up huge artificial caves. The vaults probably collapsed in an earthquake in the 16th century, and today the Latomia del Paradiso is a sunken garden. At its northwestern edge opens the Ear of Dionysius, a man-made grotto 65 m long, 23 m high and up to 11 m wide. It owes its name to its shape, like a human ear, and to the way it amplifies sound. Excavations on the plateau above found remains of a sanctuary of Demeter, so the acoustics were probably used for religious purposes.

   Not everything is open. The nearby Grotta dei Cordari has been closed since 1987 because of falling rock, and for the same reason the entrances to the Latomia Intagliatella and the Latomia di Santa Venera are shut. Opposite the Latomia del Paradiso lies the Altar of Hieron II, built in the late 3rd century BC. Only the part cut from the bedrock survives; the rest was carried off in the 16th century as building material for Spanish fortifications. Its footprint, 198 m by 22.8 m, matches the size of a stadium.

   The park charges entry and is the place on this walk to give generous time. Then comes the longest leg: 2710 m, about 37 minutes, onto the island of Ortigia and the Ortigia Market.

   Local name

   Parco archeologico della Neapolis

   Hours

   Daily 08:30–19:40 (ticket office closes 18:30)

   Price

   14 EUR full, 7 EUR reduced

   Website

   parchiarcheologici.regione.sicilia.it ↗

   Location

   Neapolis Archaeological Park on Google Maps ↗

3. 3

   Ortigia Market

   

   The Ortigia Market begins at the Antico Mercato, a covered market hall right beside the Temple of Apollo. The city bought the plot in 1885, where stretches of the Spanish walls still stood, and chose it for Syracuse's market; work began on 20 July 1899 and finished in 1900. Look at the arcade: 24 arches and 36 windows once served the shops inside, arranged around a rectangular courtyard with an ornamental fountain. The design recalls the Mercato delle Vettovaglie in Livorno.

   For most of the 20th century this was the city's main market. In the late 1980s the fish, produce and local craft stalls moved to the roomier Via Emmanuele De Benedictis just behind it, which is where today's Ortigia market trades. The old hall was restored by 2000 and now hosts events through the year, including a weekly farmers' market that pauses in summer, plus music and cultural programmes.

   Entry is free. Walk through the hall for the architecture, then step round into the street of stalls to see what Syracuse buys today. From here the Temple of Apollo is just 220 m away, about 3 minutes.

   Local name

   Antico mercato

   Hours

   Mon–Sat 07:30–14:00, Sun closed

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Ortigia Market on Google Maps ↗

4. 4

   Temple of Apollo

   

   The Temple of Apollo, in front of Piazza Pancali, dates from the 6th century BC. It is one of the oldest Doric temples in Sicily and among the first built with stone columns running all the way round, a layout that became standard for Greek temples. Look at the columns: very squat and set close together, 6 across the front and 17 along each side, on a base measuring 55.36 by 21.47 m.

   Few buildings have changed roles so often. Closed during the persecution of pagans in the late Roman Empire, it became a Byzantine church, and traces of a central door survive from that phase. Under the Emirate of Sicily it served as a mosque, and after the Normans defeated the Saracens it was reconsecrated as the Church of the Saviour. Then it disappeared into a 16th century Spanish barracks and private houses.

   In 1778 the traveller Dominique Vivant Denon went looking for it. He had to enter the house of a man called Daniel and pay a pound to see two capitals standing in the space between the bed and the wall. The columns were buried to more than half their height, and while repairing the house and digging a cistern the owner had found two more column drums. Around 1890 the temple was rediscovered inside the barracks, and Paolo Orsi's excavations brought it fully to light.

   It is free and you see it from the street, so a few minutes are enough. Continue 540 m, about 8 minutes, to Syracuse Cathedral, crossing Piazza del Duomo on the way.

   Local name

   Tempio di Apollo

   Hours

   24/7

   Price

   Free

   Location

   Temple of Apollo on Google Maps ↗

5. 5

   Syracuse Cathedral

   

   Syracuse Cathedral, dedicated to the Nativity of Mary and seat of the archdiocese, is a church built inside a Greek temple. Walk along its side and you see the battered Doric columns of the old Temple of Athena set into the walls; you meet them again inside. Because of this, the building is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site designated in 2005.

   The Temple of Athena went up in the 6th century BC, with 6 columns on the short sides and 14 on the long ones. Plato and Athenaeus mention it, and in 70 BC Cicero listed the plundering of its ornaments among the crimes of the governor Verres. Paolo Orsi's excavations here showed that the temple stood on even older foundations, and many of the archaic finds went to the museum where you began.

   Bishop Zosimo built the church in the 7th century. In 878 it became a mosque, and it turned back into a church after the Norman count Roger I retook the city in 1086. The nave roof and the mosaics in the apses are Norman. After the 1693 earthquake Andrea Palma redesigned the façade in High Sicilian Baroque, a fairly late example, with two orders of Corinthian columns whose capitals show carved acanthus leaves and full-length statues by the sculptor Ignazio Marabitti.

   The interior, a nave with two aisles where rough walls meet Baroque details, charges entry and is worth it for anyone who wants to see the temple columns from inside; tourist visits pause during religious services. The Arethusa Fountain is 230 m away, about 3 minutes.

   Local name

   Duomo di Siracusa

   Hours

   Mon–Sat 09:00–18:30 (summer/Sept), 09:00–17:30 (winter); tourist visits suspended during religious services and on Sundays

   Price

   2 EUR standard admission (+ 1 EUR service fee online)

   Website

   arcidiocesi.siracusa.it ↗

   Location

   Syracuse Cathedral on Google Maps ↗

6. 6

   Arethusa Fountain

   

   The Arethusa Fountain is a pool of fresh water in the oldest part of Syracuse. It is one of many outlets of the aquifer under the area, the same one that feeds the Ciane river on the other side of the harbour, and its shape is a double circle, one ring set inside another. You can look down on it free from the public belvedere; a paid interior path takes you closer to the water.

   Fresh water arriving underground on an island and spilling into the sea fascinated the ancients, and the legend of Arethusa and Alpheus is set here. Pindar, Ovid and Virgil wrote about it, later D'Annunzio, Milton and Pope; historians from Timaeus to Cicero described it; the Syracusan coin makers Kimon and Euainetos depicted it, and the composer Karol Szymanowski set it to music. According to Pausanias, before Archias sailed to found the colony, the oracle at Delphi told him of a small island, Ortigia, where the mouth of the Alpheus mingles with the spring of fair Arethusa.

   Horatio Nelson was taken with it too. Calling at Syracuse in June 1798, before facing Napoleon at Aboukir, he wrote that having drawn water from the Arethusa Fountain, victory could not fail him. The fountain has changed many times: it once lay outside the fortifications, reached from the sea through a gate where the Romans are said to have entered during their conquest of the city, and in the 16th century it was split into channels used for tanning hides, which formed a lake about 200 m across.

   From the fountain it is 600 m, about 8 minutes, to Maniace Castle.

   Local name

   Fonte Aretusa

   Hours

   Tue–Sun 16:00–19:00, Mon closed (interior walkway); belvedere always accessible 24/7

   Price

   5 EUR full, 3 EUR reduced (interior path); free from public belvedere

   Location

   Arethusa Fountain on Google Maps ↗

7. 7

   Maniace Castle

   

   Maniace Castle stands at the southern tip of Ortigia, a square fortress with a round tower at each corner. Frederick II had it built in the 1230s, and it was finished in 1240. Before it stood a fortress of the Byzantine general George Maniakes, whose name it still carries: in 1038 he briefly won Syracuse back for the Byzantine Empire, for the last time, after the city had been in Arab hands since 878.

   From outside the castle looks almost as it always did, yet it was once taller, with one or two upper floors that made it rise steeply like a keep; these were taken down in the 17th century. In 1704 a powder magazine exploded inside and destroyed much of the interior. Only after a renovation, and after the military zone around the harbour was lifted, could visitors return in 2004.

   Inside there was a single vast hall, its cross-rib vaults resting on massive columns. Their richly sculpted capitals, partly preserved, are unique in the medieval secular architecture of the Mediterranean, and the box-shaped ribs point to Cistercian models linked to Clairvaux. On the eastern outer side a small niche was found that resembles the prayer niche of a mosque; what it was for is still unclear.

   The castle charges entry and suits anyone drawn to medieval architecture; the capitals alone justify going in. This is the end of the walk, so take your time here before heading back into the lanes of Ortigia.

   Hours

   Tue–Sat 08:30–18:00 (ticket office closes 17:15; summer until 19:00), Sun and Mon 08:30–13:30 (ticket office closes 12:45)

   Price

   6 EUR full, 3 EUR reduced (under 25 and FAI members)

   Website

   comune.siracusa.it ↗

   Location

   Maniace Castle on Google Maps ↗

Shorter Ways Through Syracuse

The full route links two halves: ancient Syracuse on the mainland and the old town on Ortigia. Each half also works on its own.

Ortigia only

Stops: 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

For a half day or an afternoon on the island. About 1.6 km and 22 minutes of walking. Entry at the cathedral and the castle; the Arethusa Fountain is free from the belvedere, with an optional paid interior path.

Ancient Syracuse

Stops: 1, 2

For archaeology lovers with a morning to spare. 1450 m and 20 minutes of walking between the museum and the Neapolis park, both with entry, and time to explore both properly.

Start at Neapolis

Stops: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

For anyone who wants the ruins in place but can skip the museum. About 4.3 km and 59 minutes of walking. Entry at the park, the cathedral and the castle.

How Long Does This Syracuse Tour Take with the Ruins Included?

The pure walking time is 1 h 18 min over 5.7 km, and most of it falls on two legs: museum to park, and the long walk from Neapolis onto Ortigia. Once you are on the island, the stops are only a few minutes apart.

Plan about seven hours for the whole route: roughly 1 h 30 in the museum, 2 h in the Neapolis park, half an hour in the cathedral and 45 minutes in the castle, plus shorter pauses at the market, the temple and the fountain. Ortigia only takes about two and a half hours with the cathedral and castle interiors, starting at Neapolis about five hours, and the ancient Syracuse pairing about four.

Before You Set Off in Syracuse

• Start: The recommended start is the Paolo Orsi Regional Archaeological Museum, but you can join the route at any stop; for the island alone, begin at the Ortigia Market.
• End: Maniace Castle at the southern tip of Ortigia.
• Time of day: Set off in the morning: the museum and the park together fill a good part of the day before you reach Ortigia.
• Entry: The museum, the Neapolis park, the cathedral, the castle and the interior path at the Arethusa Fountain charge entry. The Ortigia Market, the Temple of Apollo and the fountain seen from the belvedere are free.
• Navigation: The free GPS route in your browser leads you from stop to stop, including the long leg from Neapolis onto the island.

Common Questions About Walking Syracuse