Siracusa, its duomo and patron saint – Santa Lucia

Let’s take a look inside Siracusa’s most celebrated landmark.

Siracusa’s Duomo (cathedral) sits on the highest point on the island of Ortigia.

The cathedral incorporates the remains of a Greek temple dating back to the 6th century BC. The temple was dedicated to Athena (Minerva in Etruscan) – the Roman goddess of wisdom and sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. It has a highly complex baroque facade.

Despite the exterior shows the styles of the Baroque and Rococo, the interior includes parts built by the Greek dating back to the Middle Ages and parts built by the Byzantines in the seventeenth century as seen today.

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The main entrance is flanked by a pair of highly decorated Rococo columns.

Doric columns of the Temple of Athena inside the cathedral.

When the first Christian church was built herein the Seventh Century, the doric columns were incorporated into its structure.

The Duomo holds statues, relics and remains of saints, martyrs and nobles of the city. The patron saint of Siracusa is Santa Lucia, born locally (284-304 AD) and died as a young Christian martyr.

Siracusa was a Roman province under the rule of the Roman Emperor Diocletian (r.284-305) who mounted some of the fiercest persecutions of members of the Christian church.

There are two legendary stories about Santa Lucia’s eyes. As Lucy had beautiful eyes, the pagan man who was proposed to marry Lucy, wanted Lucy’s eyes. One story says that the christian Lucy gifted her eyes to the pagan man, and asked him to leave her alone.

The second story says that while she was taken by the governor for being a Christian, during the torture, she was stabbed in the throat by a dagger to stop her from speaking about Christian faith and her eyes were taken out.

In both stories, God had restored her eyes.

The emblem of eyes on a cup or plate apparently reflects popular devotion to her as protector of sight, because of her name, Lucia (from the Latin word “lux” means “light”).

Santa Lucia is represented in Christian Art is generally represented as bearing a dish or platter with two eyes on it.

A highly treasured silver statue of Santa Lucia, made in 1599 in Palermo, had been stolen in the past. It is now locked up in a silver box stored somewhere in the cathedral, and only brought out on religious occasions. Photos of the statue and the box are shown instead.

Her feast day is celebrated on December 13 and once coincided with the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. So her feast day has become a festival of light widely celebrated in not only Italy but also as far away as the Scandinavia.

Santa Lucia and her eyes is definitely one of the more macabre legends of Christian martyrs we came across.

Fratelli Burgio, Siracusa (Ortigia)

While in Siracusa, IT and I(Chris) had lunch at a very popular salumeria – F.lli Burgio – next to the market on the island of Ortigia. They claim to be a specialist of artisanal products of Sicilian gastronomy.

On their website, they listed a taste laboratory and a showroom (which was where we were). They also listed several stores in France which are likely their export partners.

The counter was packed. They offered tastings too.

Anchovies (Chris and Sue have divergent feelings about this item)

Sun-dried tomatoes made from a special local variety – Pomodoro di Pachino (yes, the Godfather actor probably took his name from this commune in Siracusa) – especially Ciliegino (cherry size).

Olives – it’s DOP.

The drier and hotter climate likely cause sicilian agricultural products to taste slightly different from the mainland version. We cannot yet tell the difference because everything was new to our taste buds.

Cheeses: fresh provole (provolone-like, pear shaped), goat cheeses – Cinniri (flavored with ash of almond trees) and Zubia.

These provole must have been smoked.

Sausages

The store was mobbed as it was lunch time. So we sat outside in the Piazza where they have set up picnic tables. The menu is simple. Each person orders a platter of cured meat, smoked fish or mixed. All comes with unlimited bread.

The way they present cold cuts, dried sliced fish, salads, olives, pies and cheese wedges on a wooden board is unique. It comes in about 10 or so small glass containers -from sharp appetizers, hard cheeses (not too stinky), salty meats, to sweet dessert. The dessert was a cannoli (inside out) in a small champagne flute.

Outside on the piazza, some people had a whole table full of meat, cheeses, roasted veges, sun-dried tomatoes and bread.

A rock band was playing in the background during lunch time.

We suspect that these whole table servings came from a sandwich shop immediately next door to F.lli Burgio. That shop was also very popular. Every  sandwich was made to order by this grandpa-like person. There was a long line of hungry customers and onlookers, all licking their lips.

We really enjoyed the food, the crowd, and the ambiance !

Corso Giacomo Matteotti, Siracusa (Ortigia), Sicily

Continuing with our trip to Siracusa, Sicily … the apartment we rented is situated on the island of Ortigia and overlooks one of the newer and straighter main street on the island – Corso Giacomo Matteotti.

The apartment is located on the top floor of a relatively new, mixed-use building. There is a Zara on the street level, government offices on the second floor, and several residential apartments on the higher floors.

Entrance hallway inside the apartment
Notice the horizontal stripes, there are vertical stripes in the apartment too. The style of the decoration is bold to say the least.

There was a bedroom opposite these chairs that were not opened to us (the place could officially sleep at least six people).

Kitchen – dining area

A bottle of local wine awaited us on the dining table. Nice touch by the owner.

The dining area is connected to the sitting area.

One wall of the sitting area is covered by a giant poster, advertising the re-presentation of the classical greek tragedy – Oresteia  (Orestiade di Eschillo; written in 458 BC) by Aeschylus  – one of the few complete plays that had survived.

Aeschylus is recognized as the father of greek tragedy and pioneered the concept of a “trilogy” – each play serves as a chapter in a continuous dramatic narrative.

The sitting area faces southwest and has a wrap-around terrace. The french doors fills the room with sunlight every day (particularly in the afternoon).

The terrace overlooks Corso Giacomo Matteotti and the Palazzo Greco across the street. The National Institute of Ancient Drama (L’Istituto Nazionale del Dramma Antico, INDA) which celebrates their 100th year in 2015 is situated in the palazzo (photo below). Given the poster concerning a greek tragedy faces the palazzo, someone who lived in this apartment must have something to do with INDA, we think.

The layout of the apartment resembles that of a loft, even though there are hallways and corridors. The walls of the corridors and rooms are not structural.

This psychedelic corridor leads to our bedrooms and the bathroom.

The rather dramatic crimson red and inky blue master bedroom.

The boring second bedroom with three long empty bookshelves. Perhaps, it was used as a study.

The bathroom consists of two sets of sinks and toilets at opposite ends of a space joined in the middle by a tiled shower and sunken “tub”.

Ethnic vs modern ends of the bathroom.

Sue found the apartment really relaxing, with the doors opened and sunlight streaming into the living room.

The manager, Alessandra, was also very hospitable and helpful with information, and we had a very nice stay.

Siracusa (Ortigia), Sicily, Part 2

This is part 2 of our post on Siracusa (read part 1 here). The city of Siracusa was named as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 2006. This 2,700-year-old city played a key role in ancient times, when it was one of the major powers of the Mediterranean world.

Piazza Duomo with the Duomo di Siracusa

Next to the Duomo is the Palazzo Senatorio (the Senators’ Palace), home of the city hall, built in the 1600’s on the ruins of a Ionian temple. The oval piazza is really beautiful.

The medieval Episcopal Palace is also here.

Palace Benventano del Bosco also in Piazza Duomo

Church of Santa Lucia alla Badia at the other end of Piazza Duomo

The city was founded by ancient Greek Corinthians and became a very powerful city-state, being allied with Sparta and Corinth. It equaled Athens in size during the fifth century BC.

Surrounded by the Ionian sea, the island is connected to the main part of Siracusa by two bridges.

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View of the Ionian Sea from our apartment.

The most important cultural artifact in Siracusa is the Temple of Apollo (Greek: Ἀπολλώνιον; Apollonion).

It is dated to the beginning of the 6th century BC and is therefore the most ancient Doric temple in Sicily.

A truly world famous person from Siracusa is Archimedes (287 BC to 212 BC) – a mathematician, physicist, inventor and indeed a very important scientist of the ancient world. This piazza is named after him. We can see the fountain from our apartment just up the street.

Archimedes is famous for sitting in a bath tub and solving the problem of measuring the volume of an irregular object by submerging it in water and measuring the displaced water. So excited by his discovery, he took to the streets naked, that he had forgotten to dress, crying “Eureka!” (Greek: “εὕρηκα,heúrēka!”, meaning “I have found [it]!”).

Many young people left Ortigia for work leaving empty homes. But the older parts of Ortigia is slowly being gentrified, many turned into B&Bs or boutique hotels.

Lots of narrow streets and little piazzas to explore.

One can get lost easily as the streets and alleys are not organized as a grid and most houses would look too similar to the tourists.

Ortigia is a truly historic place. You can’t get any more mediterranean than what’s on this island. See part 1 with photos of the shoreline of the island here.

Siracusa (Ortigia), Sicily, Part 1

Siracusa is one of two cities we stayed for several days on the eastern part of Sicily. Taormina is the other, see our earlier posts about it here and here.

The city of Siracusa itself is not very scenic, so we stayed instead on the island of Ortigia (or Ortygia in English) at the southeastern tip of Siracusa.

The island of Ortigia at less than 1 square km is the oldest part of Siracusa.

While we explored the island, we managed to walk pretty much the entire perimeter of the island, except the very tip where there is a fort. See the Italian coast guard’s boat at the port of Ortigia.

Fontana Aretusa – apparently a fresh water source – right next to the sea ! No wonder the ancient sailors liked the place.

A typical narrow street on Ortigia, often with a view of the sea in the distance.

Luongomare Alfeo along the western side of the island

The island is surrounded by the Ionian Sea.

Luongomare d’Ortigia on the eastern side of the island

The pictures here were taken on different days at different hours.

The name Ortigia originates from the Ancient Greek ortyx (ὄρτυξ), which means “Quail”.

A line of rocks were deposited here to break the waves on the eastern side of the island.

The fortification here looks modern but we suspect that it was built on top of an older base.

On the east side of the island, one can see the city of  Siracusa in a distance.

We will show you more of the streets of Ortigia in our next post.

 

MOON, Ortigia

While in Sicily, it was easy to find good inexpensive restaurants. We are not vegetarian but really enjoyed the offering at this vegetarian restaurant – Moon, in Ortigia.

MOON is an acronym for “Move Ortigia Out of Normality”.

The place has a bar, a dozen or so tables, a stage for performances possibly accompanied by a baby grand, and a small yard.

The outdoor space is more suited to drinks than a sit-down dinner in our opinion.

The white walls gives it the ambiance of an atelier. The space offers high ceilings, original moldings, exposed beams, etc.

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The bar appears to be made from cabinet drawers. The liquors are framed.

Some tables top look like Rothko’s.

We had a citrus salad – orange and lemon trees are over the place – and it was very good.

The pasta dishes were also very good. IT had a vegetarian pasta carbonara.

I had a pasta with perfume of the sea. All very clever and well executed. Never thought the taste of a traditional Italian pasta can be pleasantly replicated with vegetarian ingredients only.

The transparent plastic place mats are decorated with sewing machine-made stitches and embroidery.

Prominent in the middle is a stage for musical performance.

 

The owner told us that each summer they provide food and board for a visiting musician who performs in the evenings. Too bad we were around long enough to see it.

We thought this machine was in working condition but it was not in use while we were there.

The restaurant organized a graphic design contest to find its logo.

A great place for food, drinks and music on this ancient island.