ORTYGIA STROLL

Starting from the Nuovo bridge , which connects the island to the mainland, you reach the tree-lined Piazza Emanuele Pancali. This is where the market is held every morning, not to be missed. To the east there is the Largo XXV-Luglio, on which the imposing ruins of the temple of Apdes, built in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, stand. To the right of the temple ruins, the Corso Matteotti leads southwards to Piazza Archimedes, where you can admire the Bank of Italy Palace, with its beautiful courtyard enriched by a staircase and a Catalan-style window, and the 15th-century Palazzo Lanza, whose facade opens onto elegant twin windows alternating with slender columns.

Via Minerva and Roma , you reach Piazza del Duomo, one of the most beautiful Baroque squares in Italy, for the balance and harmony of its architecture. Under this square, excavations have revealed traces of several Greek temples, including the famous Temple of Athena (^5th century BC), celebrated by ancient writers for its grandeur. In the 7th century, the temple was transformed into a church, reshaped ten centuries later following earthquakes, and then restored in pure Baroque style in the 18th century to become the present cathedral.

Around the square are numerous palaces. That of the Senate, now the seat of the town hall and the Museum of the Carriages, was built in the first half of the 17th century in the most typical forms of Sicilian Baroque. Palazzo Beneventano del Bosco, restructured at the end of the eighteenth century by L. Ali, has severe and refined forms. There is also the archiepiscopal palace and the church of Santa Lucia alla Badia, at the end of the XVII century, which has an elegant two-storey façade separated by an elegant wrought iron balustrade.

From the Cathedral Square , take via Roma southwards to via Capodieci, which is on the right. At no. 16, in Palazzo Bellomo, you will find the Regional Gallery (open Tuesday to Saturday from 9 am to 7 pm, Sunday until 1 pm). Closed on Mondays. Admission: €8), which houses works by Sicilian sculptors and painters from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. The most important works in the collection are an Annunciation of 1474 by Antonello da Messina, considered his masterpiece, and The Burial of Saint Lucia by Caravaggio.

Continuing along Via Roma to the Lungomare d'Ortygia , one passes the eighteenth-century Church of the Santo Spirito and arrives at the Castello Maniace in Piazza Federico di Svevia. Of course, you must also stroll through the streets of Ortygia. Among the most interesting, Via Vittorio Veneto, an ancient Spanish street parallel to the sea, with its old buildings and wrought iron balconies, has a certain charm.