Syracuse (Ortigia), Sicily, Italy

Day 1

• Piazza Duomo and the temple-cathedral

  It is an oval of white stone that reflects golden light in the evening, and the Duomo is the reason the square exists: the baroque cathedral is built inside the 5th-century BC Doric temple of Athena, and the Greek columns still stand inside the aisles, swallowed into the walls. It is not a church built over a temple, it is a temple walled in. Entering the cathedral is charged; standing in the square is not.

• Greek Theatre and Neapolis Archaeological Park

  One of the largest Greek theatres of the ancient world, carved entirely into the rock, with views to the sea. The park also holds the Ear of Dionysius, the cave with legendary acoustics, and the latomie quarries where Athenian prisoners laboured. Tickets ~€14-17 depending on exhibitions; take the first slot to beat heat and cruise groups.

• Maniace Castle

  It is Frederick II's Swabian fortress on the far tip of Ortigia, surrounded by sea on three sides, and inside is a Gothic hypostyle hall of twenty-five bays. It is the point where the island ends: beyond it there is nothing. It keeps regional-site hours and has its own ticket, separate from the Neapolis and the museum: anyone holding the archaeological parks' combined ticket does not have it covered.

Day 2

• Baroque Noto (day trip)

  It is the baroque capital of the Val di Noto, a UNESCO site, half an hour away by train or car: the golden theatre of Corso Vittorio Emanuele works at sunset, when the limestone takes on the colour it is famous for. In mid-May the Infiorata covers via Nicolaci in petals for a weekend, and then they destroy it. The train from Syracuse runs only a few times a day: check the return before setting off.

• Ortigia, the island old town

  One kilometre of island concentrating 2,700 years of history: Catalan alleys, Baroque courtyards, workshops and the sea appearing at the end of every street. You explore it only on foot, getting lost: that's the correct way to use it.

• Aretusa Spring

  It is a freshwater spring rising a few metres from the sea, and that fact is what holds up the whole myth of the nymph Arethusa: nobody could explain it. Papyrus grows here, wild, which in Europe it does almost nowhere else. You look down on it from the seafront walk that circles it, and it costs nothing at any hour.

Day 1

• The Giudecca and the mikveh✦ hidden gem

  Ortigia's medieval Jewish quarter, with the island's quietest alleys: beneath the Alla Giudecca hotel you can visit the mikveh, the Jewish ritual bath carved 18 metres down into the rock, among the oldest in Europe. A Syracuse almost nobody sees.

• Sanctuary of Santa Lucia al Sepolcro and the Caravaggio✦ hidden gem

  Outside Ortigia, in the borgata: the Burial of Saint Lucy, the masterpiece Caravaggio painted in 1608 while fleeing Malta, has been back since 2020 on the altar it was conceived for. Next door, the catacombs and the saint's tomb. Few tourists, great emotion.

• Paolo Orsi Archaeological Museum✦ hidden gem

  Full €10, reduced €5, closed on Mondays, Tuesday to Saturday 9am-7pm with the ticket office closing at 6pm and 9am-1.45pm on holidays. The combined ticket with the Neapolis park costs €18 instead of the two separate ones, which is the sensible choice if you are doing both. Inside are the kouroi, the Venus Anadyomene and the collections telling Sicily before the Romans: it is half a day and almost nobody who stops in Ortigia gets there.

Day 2

• Catacombs of San Giovanni✦ hidden gem

  It is the early Christian complex beneath the ruined basilica of San Giovanni, with 4th-century tomb galleries and the crypt of St Marcian. It is visited only with a guide, in timed groups, so you cannot walk in when you like: you arrive and wait for the next departure. Underground the temperature stays low all year, which in August is half the reason to go.

• Swimming in Ortigia: Cala Rossa and the platforms✦ hidden gem

  In Ortigia you dive straight off the rocky platforms (Forte Vigliena, Cala Rossa, the eastern seafront): crystal-clear water and a village feel. For sand: Arenella and Fontane Bianche, 15-20 minutes by car.

Day 1

• Seafood, sea-urchin pasta and Pachino tomatoes

  Syracusan cooking is sea and garden together: raw red prawns, spaghetti with sea urchin in the cold season, grilled tuna and swordfish with Pachino tomatoes. 'Siracusana' is a pasta with anchovy, capers, olives and toasted breadcrumbs instead of cheese, which is the signature of the local poor cooking. The trattorie in the Giudecca and around the market cost less than the seafront ones, two hundred metres away.

• Granita, Avola almonds and Moscato di Siracusa✦ hidden gem

  Avola almond granita with a brioche col tuppo is breakfast, not dessert: it is ordered in the morning and dunked. Moscato di Siracusa DOC descends directly from the pollio wine the Greeks made here, and it is perhaps the oldest denomination in Italy, brought back into production only recently after nearly disappearing. It is drunk at the end of dinner, cold, in small glasses.

• Ortigia market

  It runs every morning except Sunday on via de Benedictis and finishes around 2pm: after that only the sandwich stalls are left. There is fish, Pachino tomatoes, Avola almonds and herbs, and the vendors' theatre is genuine rather than staged. At the edges are the gourmet sandwich counters: Caseificio Borderi has queues of over an hour, so either you go at opening or you pick another stall.