![]() ![]() And Alfio is expert at connecting with the local characters.Īlfio: Quanda, quanda, Rick. To be sure we maximize the delights of our Sicilian experience, I’m joined by my friend and fellow tour guide, Alfio Di Mauro. This shop is jam-packed for its beloved specialty: jam-packed panini. Each morning this street hosts a lively fish and produce market. I always say, “If you like Italy, you’ll love Sicily” - and I especially feel that in its markets. Balconies festooned with laundry are reminders that this is still a real neighborhood. ![]() The long and narrow side lanes are part of a street plan dating way back to ancient times. And today, stoked by its influx of tourism, it has a bohemian energy that fills it with a joyful and relaxed ambiance. Just a generation ago, Ortigia was a rough and unwelcoming zone, almost empty of commerce. With its shabby-chic vibe, delightful back lanes, and breezy sea views, old Siracusa is for me the most enjoyable urban environment anywhere in Sicily. That’s where you’ll find many of the ancient sights and most of the medieval charm. But the city was born on the fortified island of Ortigia. Modern Siracusa sprawls across the mainland. The inventions of this scientist/physicist/philosopher/genius from the third century BC helped his hometown defend itself from invasions. It dates from 600 BC.Īnd Syracuse nurtured the brightest minds of the ancient world - like Archimedes. The Temple of Apollo, marking the center of old Syracuse, was the first stone Greek temple in Sicily. In fact, Syracuse eventually defeated the Athenians in battle in this very bay. Founded in 732 BC by the Corinthians, it grew to become an even greater, more important city than Athens. Greek culture flourished here in Syracuse. These new settlements created a broader Greek culture, known as Magna Graecia, or “Greater Greece.” Athens and Sparta dominated, but lots of other Greek cities, like Corinth, were establishing colonies too. The great city-states of Greece were expansive, searching the Mediterranean for more fertile lands. The results of this most recent excavation, the archaeologists say, will make possible a reconstruction of the entire area of the Acropolis to allow for a fuller reconstruction of the history of Magna Graecia.Like so much of Sicily, Syracuse has ancient Greek origins. The earliest parts of the structure, the researchers say, originate from 540-530 BC, and there are traces of Hellenistic-era remains from 480-450 BC, with the topography and architecture showing the chronology of the various phases of the Acropolis, from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period. The settlement there dates back to the Bronze Age. The Culture Minister told the press that the discoveries found at Velia, including the ancient Greek helmet and inscription, underscored the importance of investing in archaeological research to reveal “important pieces of the history of the Mediterranean.” The stratigraphic layers showing the years of habitation at the acropolis of the ancient Greek colony of Velia, including a polygonal wall. Velia was also the base for a school of philosophy, founded by the ancient Greek philosophers Parmenides and Zeno. This was once the site of worship of the goddess Athena, archaeologists believe. An overhead view of the Acropolis of Velia, in what was Magna Graecia. ![]() State Museums Director Massimo Osanna had in the past directed excavations at Pompeii, one of the greatest archaeological sites in the world, which preserved a Roman city in ashes in the year 79 AD, when the Mt. ![]()
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