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Day 7

Syracuse and island of Ortygia

The morning started off with a tour with a local guide, through the market, past the Fountain of Diana in Archimedes Square depicting the Roman goddess of the hunt and protector of Ortygia in ancient times, to the impressive Piazza del Duomo. The piazza is the main square of old Syracuse, paved in white stone and anchored by the Baroque Cathedral of Syracuse. The cathedral was built on the remains of a Greek doric temple dedicated to the goddess Athena, and retains many of the original columns from that structure. We wound our way through the small streets to a small unassuming church, la Chiesa Di San Filippo Apostolo, that hides a vast labyrinth of tunnels that served as a bunker in WWII for 10,000 city residents. Built on the remains of a medieval synagogue, the church also sits atop a Christian burial crypt and a Jewish ritual bath (dating to the 1400s) on each of its three subterranean levels. We then attended a marionette performance, a Sicilian cultural tradition.

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