Sicily, Syracuse, Syracuse
Syracuse (Siracusa) is the major town of the south east and is divided between the sprawling suburbs city and the historic Ortygia island which has been rebuilt after it was largely destroyed in an earth quake in 1693. The town was founded in 733BC and was once a mighty Greek colony about triple the size of today's city. There are many Greek and Roman sites of interest, including a Greek theater and Roman arena. It is wonderful to walk around in the evenings admiring the many shops, exploring the large duomo, watching the passegiata from the piazza or enjoying a spritz in one of the many bars throughout the town or along the seafront.
Ortygia is just so photogenic. As you walk through the city your eye is constantly taken by delightful details. Much of the city is scruffy and shabby - though that is rapidly changing as restoration projects overtake the place. You have to hope they don't get too carried away with all that cleaning and smartening up - much of the city's charm comes from the patina that only comes with 500 years. It's all too easy to sandblast and scrub softly worn old stone into something that looks as though it was pressed out of a mould down at the local garden ornament workshop just yesterday and no matter how skilfully limewashed paints are applied, the new stuff never looks like the paint that sun and salt air have worn into the washed-out and patchy pinks and terracottas that look so right against the clear blue sky.
All of this faded charm is what you expect to find in a place like Syracuse. What may come as more surprising, is the grandeur and opulence that is a legacy of the 18th century rebuilding of the city after the devastating earthquake of 1693. Wonderful flourishes of Baroque exuberance are everywhere. One finds themselves constantly stopping to take in yet another lovely window or doorway, elaborate portals, stucco decorations on coffered ceilings, church facades like a tiered wedding cake, silver altars and barley sugar-twist pillars - and who was the 18th century aristocrat that rode around in the golden coach now parked in the Palazzo di Senato on the Piazza Duomo?
|
