Syracuse, Ancient Greek city in Sicily, Italy.
This city sits on the eastern coast of Sicily, spreading from the small island of Ortygia to modern neighborhoods on the mainland. Limestone facades in ochre and gray line narrow alleys, while the waterfront promenade looks out over the Ionian Sea and stone bridges connect the island to the harbor.
Corinthian Greeks founded the settlement in 734 BCE and turned it into the most powerful city in southern Italy. It later became a Roman provincial capital, then a Byzantine stronghold, then an Arab emirate before Normans and Spanish reshaped it into what visitors walk through today.
Local life centers around the market on Ortygia, where fishermen sell seafood in the early morning and neighbors gather for espresso. On summer afternoons, families head to the Fonte Aretusa, a freshwater pool beside the sea, where papyrus plants grow and children play in the shade while older residents sit on stone benches watching the water.
The archaeological park with its theater and amphitheater lies north of the old town, about a 20-minute walk. Ortygia itself is easy to explore on foot in a morning, with shaded squares to rest during midday heat when most shops close.
Papyrus plants grow wild at the Fonte Aretusa, a freshwater spring right by the sea, the only place in Europe where this Egyptian plant thrives naturally. The catacombs of San Giovanni hold thousands of early Christian tombs in underground tunnels that run beneath the city, larger even than those in Rome.
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