Ortigia, an island, a paradise….

Surrounded by the blue waters of the sea, caressed by the light of southern Sicily, this island, cradle of the city of Syracuse, has seen all the great civilizations of the Mediterranean meet since Antiquity. Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Byzantines, Spaniards and Normans have contributed to the singular character of Ortigia, where the ruins of temples are transformed into mosques, churches, baroque palaces, the cathedral, the medieval castle and even the oldest ritual Jewish bath rendering it an architectural pearl.  Buzzing with life, Ortigia has kept all its authenticity and does not care about being fashionable. It is content to be itself, with its squares and its “vicoli,” alleys where the inhabitants call out to each other, its courtyards cool and fresh during the hot summer hours, its giant fig trees, the market stalls where next to fruit and vegetables, is freshly caught fish and for its “lungomare” for the evening stroll, at the time when the sun plunges into the blue waves.