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Few cities in the Mediterranean carry as much layered history as Siracusa. Founded by Corinthian colonists in 734 BC, it grew into one of the most powerful cities of the ancient world, rivalling Athens in population and ambition. Cicero called it the greatest and most beautiful of all Greek cities, and even stripped of its ancient dominance, the claim retains a certain force. The limestone streets, the blue of the Ionian Sea pressing against the old walls, and the sheer density of monuments from successive civilisations make this corner of south-eastern Sicily unlike anywhere else on the island.

The city divides naturally between the mainland and the small island of Ortigia, connected to the modern town by two short bridges. Ortigia is where Siracusa's oldest identity is most legible. The Piazza del Duomo sits on the site of a fifth-century BC temple to Athena, whose original Doric columns are still visible, absorbed into the fabric of the baroque cathedral that replaced it. The narrow lanes around the piazza give way to the waterfront Lungomare, where fishing boats and pleasure craft share the same harbour they have occupied for millennia. The Fonte Aretusa, a freshwater spring rising at the edge of the sea, was sacred to the ancient Greeks and remains one of the most quietly remarkable spots in the city.