After a night of well deserved sleep following our travels, we set out for our first full day in Italy: Syracuse. We spent our time exploring a wide range of sites around the city. Many of these were on Ortigia, an island with a rich history within the city which contains many notable sites.
Fonte Arethusa
One of the first places we saw was the Fonte Arethusa, a freshwater spring metres away from the saltwater that surrounds the island. According to mythology, Arethusa was a nymph that Artemis turned into a fresh water spring to help her escape from an unwanted suitor, Alpheus. She emerged as the Fonte. To an island like Ortigia, freshwater is one of its most important resources. Another one of the sites that we visited was also a home of water, the Jewish mikvah, a ritual bathing area deep below the city. The porous limestone allowed water to flow through the baths and provide a supply of clean water. Syracuse had a significant population of Jewish residents until the religion's practice was outlawed in the area during the late Middle Ages. In order to preserve the mikvah, the community walled it off and hid it so well that it wasn't rediscovered until recently. The baths would be used in order to purify oneself before certain religious rituals.
The Greek Theater
The Roman Amphitheater
We also spent time visiting the ruins of both the Greek theatre and the Roman amphitheatre outside of the city. Both served as social sites where people could go and see performances, though there were differences between what would have been shown in each. The Greek theatre had a fountain at the top, and sat next to a quarry where we visited an excavated cave known as the ear of Dionysius.
Ear of Dionysus
Syracuse had been occupied by different groups of people over the course of time, meaning that not only Greek, but Roman, Spanish, and Muslim influence were all visible. One of the places that this was most clear was the Duomo, originally a Greek temple. It is now a Catholic Church, and it previously been both and Orthodox church in a Mosque depending on who controlled the area. Pillars were visible in the walls, which had been altered later. We learned about Santa Lucia, the patron saint of Syracuse, to whom many references were made in the church. When confronted with marrying a Pagan man despite the fact that she was a Catholic and a sworn virgin, she refused and was martyred.
The Duoma
In all, we had an excellent first day and were able to experience many new and exciting places.
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