A Most Charming Sicilian Town: Ortigia, Siracusa

Buongiorno from Atreale in the province of Catania. We're gonna head down south to the province of Syracuse in Ortigia, once one of the most important cities during Magna Grecia. And by the way, the birthplace of the important mathematician Archimedes. We're gonna do a walking tour and discover so much about this beautiful island in the province of Syracuse. Lots of great places to stop and have a snack or a drink. The store at the beginning of the market is phenomenal. Now, I've brought you to many places that have great cheese and pulled meats and all Sicilian products, but this one is truly, truly worth the stop. Tomatoes from Tochino, famous. All the spices and incredible collection I've ever seen. I mean, you've got everything from pasta to pizza. The sights, the sounds of the market. Priceless. This is a specialty of Syracuse, all these almond flavors with different flavors. This is almond and pistachio. You put that in half of this in a cup of water overnight. It makes pistachio milk. Listen to me very closely. This is a specialty of this place right here. Pistachio, pine nuts, pistachio, almond, and dried cherry tomatoes. This is a specialty like you won't find. He puts a little bit and then they put the salata, but the piece de resistance is the lemon peel, shaved lemon peel. My favorites, the greens. Buongiorno. That's a pretty good collection of fish, huh? That's a great depiction of the last supper. Oh, look at those strawberries. There's the fritta, all the mixed fish. There's the octopus. There's the octopus. Sicilian capers are so special. Look how big these are. They're mostly from the Ionian Islands. And of course, the tomato products. Eight millimeter projector right there, I think. That's so cool. I love these ancient things, antique things, ceramics. Al, what do you think? You want one of these? Then right outside of the market, after you walk through, there's all these vendors selling stuff. And sometimes I've even found some good deals. But I would not recommend that you get some of these ceramics because obviously we don't know where they're from. Made in Italy. It has to say, made in Caltigeroni, Ciacca, or Santo Stefano di Pumas. This is the Temple of Apollo, which is one of the most important monuments here in Ortigia. It was built in the sixth century before Christ. Sixth century. And it has the six times 17 columns. So six by 17. It's a beautiful example of Doric architecture here. The reason this is fenced in is because famously when Mussolini came here and he saw this important temple, he told the mayor, immediately put a fence around this. This is not just a Sicilian, but an Italian treasure. And so since then, it's here for you to see. And it's very well situated. Right over there is the market and the main piazza. I don't know if you can see it, but on the top stair, there's a Greek name over there. And it is the person who built this, the architect of this magnificent temple. It's very unusual for someone to have their names on there, but I guess this guy wanted it there forever. And now you know who built this Greek temple. Over here, you can see how the street over here is pretty shaded, right? It's noon, so it shouldn't be shaded, but it is. Because when the Arabs came here, it was very, very hot. And they wanted to figure out a way to make the place a little bit cooler and more shady. So they built the buildings with a little bit of an angle. And that's why these areas have a little bit of a shade. But look how shaded the street is. And it's noon. I love doors and arches. And this is probably one of my favorites. Lots of alleys and little streets to wander on here. I gotta tell you, over the years, there's been many more stores that have opened up. Even 10 years ago when I was here, there weren't all these shops here. And this is one of the main streets here, leading to the Piazza Alchimides. And wait till you see this fountain. Fontana di Anno. Lo stomaccio di Alchimides. These are 14 pieces, and you can create 536 different designs with them. And there's the famous pie, 3.14. Our favorite Stomacchion of Alchimides, $19. Stomachache because it's difficult to do. Very complicated. Now we're going to go to my favorite piazzas in all of Italy, the Piazza Duomo. Two-thousand-year-old history right here. Just touch it right here. Can you imagine how much has gone on in this land since then? Duomo of Siracusa, Vortigia, with the most beautiful face of Mary right in the middle. And this, my friends, is my favorite square in all of Italy because everywhere you look, there's something spectacular to see. By the way, below here is a series of tunnels that empty out over to the sea. This was once the Temple of Athena. And now it's the Cathedral of Siracusa. Real medieval feel in here, for sure. What's really amazing about this building is it was the Temple of Athena during the Roman times. It was a place where orders made speeches. Then the Arabs turned it into a mosque and they prayed to Allah. And then when the Normans came, it became a Christian place of worship. And, of course, the Spanish turned it into a cathedral. And there she is, the Queen of Siracusa, Santa Lucia. Dress of Santa Lucia. These are mosaics from the Norman era. Baptismal font. The intricate work on these. This is diplomatic. It's a crispy puff pastry with ricotta. Ricotta is sweet. Yes, sweet ricotta. These are rolls of Spanish bread. This one with chocolate, this one with ricotta and chocolate drops. Wow, look at that. It's amazing. This is classic cannoli. Cassata. Cassata, both cake and single-dose. And there's minuzzi with an agata. And, of course, I have to show you the gelato. Ragusa has a very similar type of snack. And here we are in Siracusa, early April. Pretty busy. If you're enjoying this type of programming, consider being a subscriber. For $1.99 a month, you help us continue programming from Sicily. If you go to this video and hit the join button, it'll take you to a website. It's very easy and very, very much appreciated. For those of you who are already community members, grazie mille. And there's the bride. She looks like a princess. Oh, my gosh. Yes, this is just a display. But, actually, they do have plates like this. You can't forget the restaurants in Portugia. Viva Santa Lucia! Look at this water. And straight ahead is the castle. Cicero famously said, Siracusa, the most beautiful Roman state. Like everything here in Sicily, stories and legends Athena and Altio And that's the papyrus plant right there. It's April and people are swimming in this majestic Ionian Sea. You just take these little alleys and walk through arches. This building sticking out right over there and then you have the sea over there. This is just a glorious view. Portugia, by the way, is one of our stops on our East Coast tour of Sicily. We usually have one in May, at the end of June, and definitely in October. So, check it out. www.youmeandsicily.com And we'll see you here in Sicily. This is Palazzo Palermo and these are, yes, Hebrew. This is Hebrew because the Jews were here for a long time and, in fact, there's a lot of Jewish temples that are now converted into churches. If you want a little bit more of an adventure in Siracusa, just before Ortigia, there's the Archaeological Park with the largest amphitheater in Sicily, the Ere of Deinosius, that's really cool to visit, and also the burial site of Archimedes and some other Roman ruins. It'll take you a few hours to walk through because it is an immense garden, an immense Archaeological Park, but worth it if you still have the energy. From here, you can see Siracusa, the city, and parts of the Archaeological Park where there's the largest amphitheater in Sicily, and also the burial site of the famous Archimedes. It's incredible to think that in that small little island, Ortigia, by the way, means quail in Greek because if you look from above, it's shaped like a quail. It's incredible to think that there's so much to do and see and so many layers of Sicily's history apparent right there. Now, of course, we've done many videos on Ortigia and other towns in Siracusa and I'll leave you a link to those in the description of this video but I have to tell you that Siracusa or Ortigia specifically is small and has so much to do in just a small area so it's definitely worth a visit if you're coming to the east coast of Sicily. Grazie mille for watching this video. Hope you enjoyed it and of course we have so much more on our channel from all over Sicily on and about this beautiful magical island paradise so rich with history and now let's enjoy my favorite church bells I couldn't have timed that better, right? Ciao!