The time you have available to visit it will never be enough, it is better to get lost in the labyrinth of alleys and neighborhoods because the discoveries can multiply unpredictably.

The temple of Apollo is almost a gateway to Ortigia: a couple of mighty columns remain standing, which support a small fragment of architrave with Doric capitals. It has always been, rightly, at the top of the list of monuments to see, especially because it is the oldest of the Syracusan temples (according to Mertens it dates back to 580 BC).

In the Middle Ages, the building was transformed into a church and then into a mosque and traces of these additions are clearly visible. An inscription specifies a name, Kleomede, and dedication to the god. Walking along via Dione and via Roma, that is, the decumanus of the ancient city, you arrive in the Piazza della Minerva. This has been the sacred center of the polis since the Greeks settled there and at the time of Syracuse's heyday two Ionic temples flanked each other. The first was dedicated to Athena and today is the Cathedral, with its baroque façade and the famous Greek columns incorporated into the walls of the church, which today houses a chapel frescoed by Agostino Scilla and, in the sacristy, the first painting by Antonello da Messina, a San Zosimo. The second temple was perhaps dedicated to Artemis, but its construction seems to have stopped with the fall of the tyranny of Gelone.

Heading towards the marina, you come across the Fonte Aretusa, a place of inspiration for poets and writers of all times. Also worth a visit, at the very least, are the Regional Gallery of Palazzo Bellomo, which preserves the artistic heritage of Syracuse from the Middle Ages to the nineteenth century, and Castel Maniace, a fortress built to defend the city from the time of the Greeks, but substantially rebuilt by Federico II.