Sights - Close to Siracusa (Syracuse) and South East Sicily

Castle of Euryalos
The Castle of Euryalos, built nine kilometres outside the city by Dionysius the Elder, was one of the most powerful fortresses of ancient times. It had three moats with a series of underground galleries which allowed the defenders to remove the materials the attackers could use to fill them.

Eurialo Castle

Temple of Olympian Zeus
About 3 km outside the city, was built around 6th century BC.

Small villages near Siracusa (Syracuse):

Portopalo di Capopassero
45 km southwest of Siracusa (Syracuse)

Marzamemi
50km south Siracusa.
Ancient fisher village. The village has developed around the landing, then became a fishing port and has developed thanks to the latter activity, much practiced today, deploying even a tuna, the most important in Sicily.

Main Square of Marzamemi

Villa del Tellaro
35km south Siracusa
The Villa Tellaro near Noto, is a rich extra-urban residence of the late Roman Empire.

Mosaic

Sicilian Baroque Style of Val di Noto:
Noto, Ragusa, Modica, Scicli, Catania

Val di Noto (Vallum of Noto) is a geographical area of south east Sicily; it is dominated by the limestone Iblean plateau. In 1693 the entire area was decimated by an enormous earthquake. The area's towns were rebuilt in what came to be known as the Sicilian Baroque style; most notable the town of Noto itself, which is now a tourist attraction on account of its fine Baroque architecture. In June 2002, UNESCO inscribed eight old towns of the Val di Noto on the World Heritage List as "representing the culmination and final flowering of Baroque art in Europe". The towns inscribed are Caltagirone, Militello in Val di Catania, Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo Acreide, Ragusa, and Scicli:

Noto:
32 km southwest of the city of Siracusa (Syracuse)
Noto is famous for its fine buildings of the early eighteenth century, considered among the main masterpieces in the Sicilian baroque style.

Cathedral of Noto

Baroque Balcony in Noto

Ragusa:
85km south east Siracusa
The city has two distinct areas, the lower and older town of Ragusa Ibla, and the higher Ragusa Superiore (Upper Town). The two halves are separated by the Valle dei Ponti, a deep ravine crossed by four bridges. The most noteworthy of them is the eighteenth-century Ponte dei Cappuccini.

Panorama of Ragusa

Modica:
65km south east Siracusa
As the city developed it gradually became divided into "Modica Alta" (Upper Modica) and "Modica Bassa" (Lower Modica). Despite being ravaged by earthquakes in 1613 and 1693 and floods in 1833 and 1902, Modica has maintained some of the most beautiful architecture in Sicily, in the Sicilian Baroque style. The city possesses a large Baroque Cathedral dedicated to San Giorgio. While the cathedral was rebuilt following the earthquake of 1693, like many other parts of the city its roots are in the Middle Ages.
An extraordinary and unique product of Modica is the famous chocolate of Modica, produced with an ancient and original Aztec recipe. The chocolate is made by a special "cold" process, which excludes the phase of conching.
Some sources report that during the rule of the Spaniards in Sicily in the sixteenth century this process was introduced in the County of Modica, at that time the most important feudal state of south Italy, endowed with administrative autonomy. The Spaniards, in turn, would have borrowed the recipe from the Aztecs. Currently there are no more traces of this type of work either in Spain or in America.

Panorama Modica

Castle Modica

Scicli
75km south east Siracusa
Following a catastrophic earthquake in 1693, much of the town was rebuilt in the Sicilian baroque style, which today gives the town the elegant appearance which draws many tourists to visit the city.

Panorama of Sicli

Villa Romana del Casale (Piazza Armerina)
50km north west Siracusa (Syracuse)
Villa Romana del Casale is a Roman villa built in the first quarter of the 4th century and located about 5 km outside the town of Piazza Armerina. Containing the richest, largest and most complex collection of Roman mosaics in the world, it is one of 44 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Italy.

Caltagirone

Catania
Catania on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian Sea, between Messina and Siracusa (Syracuse) 60km north. It is the capital of the eponymous province, and with 298,957 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in Sicily and the tenth in Italy. The city has been buried by lava a total of seven times in recorded history, and in layers under the present day city are the Roman city that preceded it, and the Greek city before that. Many of the ancient monuments of the Roman city have been destroyed by the numerous seisms.

Panorama of Catania

University Square

City Symbol

Vulcano Etna
90km north Siracusa
It is the second largest active volcano in Europe, currently standing 3,329 metres high, though this varies with summit eruptions; the mountain is 21 m lower now than it was in 1981. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps.

Taormina
150km north Siracusa
Taormina has been a very popular tourist destination since the 19th century. It has popular beaches (accessible via an aerial tramway) on the Ionian sea, which is remarkably warm and has a high salt content.

Panorama Taormina

Taormina Isola Bella

Panorama Taormina