Full Day Siracusa Walking Tour with Private Guide

Start the visit of the Archaeological Park, highlights of which are the Greek Theatre, the Roman Amphitheatre and the Paradise Quarry. Then stroll through the streets of Ortygia Island, the heart of the city center, to visit the Dome.

This delightful pedestrian square is home to the wonderful Cathedral built on the site of an ancient Temple of Athena as can clearly be seen from the original Doric columns that were incorporated into the building’s main structure. Also on this square is the beautifully symmetrical Baroque Palazzo Beneventano and the church of Santa Lucia, the town’s patron saint.

Later to the colourful daily Street Market, which sells a fantastic array of fruit, vegetables, fish and meat. From here, this afternoon, wandering around the eastern limits of Syracuse you fill find a maze of streets that eventually open out at the southern extreme of the island and the inaccessible Castello Maniace, a true bastion built by Frederick II in 1239.

Later onto the Byzantine Miqwe, located, at 18 meters of depth and is considered the biggest and oldest Jewish ritual bath in Europe. By definition, a mikveh is a ritual bath, consisting of at least one pool but perhaps several.

The mikveh is an important part of Jewish tradition, and it was the inspiration – or at least the precedent – for analogous practices in Christianity (Baptism) and then Islam (Ghusl). It is located in Siracusa and is the area where the Jewish community used to live.

It is at 18 meters of depth and is considered the biggest and oldest Jewish ritual bath in Europe. When, in 1492, the Jews were expelled from all of the dominions of the king of Spain and Aragon (to which Syracuse belonged, together with all of southern Italy), the Jewish community of Syracuse, in the hope of returning one day to their homeland, tried to hide the entrance to their mikveh, completely blocking and camouflaging it.

For half a millennium the existence of this space, remaining perfectly sealed, was forgotten. Until, in the course of restoration work to transform the existing building above the mikveh into a hotel, the long access stairway was rediscovered and the earth (five truckloads!) covering it was removed. The discoverers found the space full of fresh water up to the ceiling.

End the tour in one of the many bar in Ortigia and enjoy the local food and wine delicacies.