San Nicolò dei cordari, Medieval church in Syracuse, Italy

San Nicolò dei Cordari is a small Norman-era church in Syracuse, measuring 16 by 8 metres, with a rectangular plan, two pointed-arch portals (one lateral) and a semicircular apse whose only ornament is a terminal cornice. Narrow arched windows light the apse, and the interior now holds a photographic museum of monuments in the Neapolis park.

The church was built in the Norman period right after Arab rule, on the site of an earlier Paleochristian basilica; in the Byzantine era it became underground. In 1093 the funeral of Giordano d'Altavilla, count of Syracuse and son of Count Ruggero I, was held here. The Normans dedicated it to Saint Nicholas of Myra, invoked to drive the Arabs from the city.

The name comes from the cordari, the rope makers who worked the latomie of Neapolis beyond the church and were granted use of the building in 1577. The church was attended by Syracuse families of rope makers, and later served as a grain store. In the plague years around 1600 its underground rooms were used as a common burial pit.

The building is located within the archaeological park and is best visited as part of exploring the nearby ancient sites. Access is straightforward, though comfortable shoes are recommended since you will be walking considerably.

Under the church floor, restorations in the 1990s uncovered burials from the 1st to 3rd centuries AD; the pavement was then covered with transparent plexiglass bars, so some skeletons can be seen by looking down inside the church.