Founded in the eighth century a. BC by the Greeks, Syracuse had to become one of the most powerful cities in the Mediterranean together with Athens, so much so as to represent a danger for Athens itself, whose huge fleet was ruinously beaten in its port in 413 BC. The tyrant Dionysius the Elder endowed it with the most imposing fortress of the Greek era and a wall of almost 30 km., So that for the Romans it was a real undertaking to be able to conquer it in 212 d. C. On that occasion, Archimedes, one of the best known characters in the history of this city, met his death.

Among the first Christian communities that arose in the Mediterranean, it will see Saint Paul preaching during a stop on his travels and Saint Lucia martyred in 304 AD. The Maniace castle at the entrance to its natural port dates back to the Norman period.

Devastated by the earthquake in the Val di Noto in 1693, it was rebuilt in Baroque style and despite the British bombing in 1943, it still shows an almost intact historical center and an interesting Jewish quarter.

We will visit together the archaeological park called Neapolis with its ancient Greek theater, the Roman amphitheater, the Altar of Ieron II and the limestone quarries. In the baroque center of the Ortigia district, the cathedral, the Arethusa fount and the temple of Apollo.