fiogf49gjkf0d SYRACUSE
SYRACUSE - CITY OF PAPYRI AND THE ARETHUSA
FOUNTAIN, TAKES ITS NAME FROM THE NEARBY SYRAKA
SWAMP - WAS DEFINED BY CICERO AS GRAECARUM
NOBILISSIMA ET PULCHERRIMA, THE NOBLEST AND MOST
BEAUTIFUL OF THE GREEK COLONIES.
THE CITY ENJOYS AN ENVIABLE GEOGRAPHIC POSITION,
SITUATED AS IT IS IN THE HEART OF AN AMAZINGLY
BEAUTIFUL ANCHORAGE.
AS POWERFUL AND FAMOUS AS ATHENS AND ROME IN THE
ANCIENT WORLD, NOWADAYS A MODERN, DYNAMIC CITY,
SYRACUSE IS BLESSED WITH A LARGE NATURAL PORT IN
WHICH THE ISLET OF ORTYGIA LIES, THE SEAT OF
REMOTE SETTLEMENTS DATING FROM THE FOURTEENTH
CENTURY BC.
IN THE SIXTH CENTURY BC UNDER THE TYRANT GELON,
IN THE FIFTH AND FOURTH CENTURIES UNDER DIONYSIUS
I, IN THE THIRD UNDER AGATHOCLES, THE CITY
ENJOYED RAPID EXPANSION.
THE QUARTERS OF ACRADINA, TYCHE AND NEAPOLI WERE
FOUNDED, MAJESTIC TEMPLES, SUCH AS THOSE TO
ATHENA, APOLLO AND ZEUS WERE BUILT, THE
PENTAPOLIS WAS BUILT, AND THE CITY BECAME ONE OF
THE MOST IMPORTANT COMMERCIAL AND CULTURAL POLES
IN THE MEDITERRANEAN.
CONQUERED BY THE ROMANS IN 212 BC, DESPITE THE
STRENUOUS DEFENCE ORGANIZED BY THE GENIUS OF
ARCHIMEDES, NOBLE SON OF SYRACUSE, THE CITY
BECAME A FERVENT CHRISTIAN CENTER IN THE FIRST
CENTURIES OF THE EMPIRE, AS THE EXTENSIVE
CATACOMBS AND EARLY CHRISTIAN CHURCHES TESTIFY.
THEN IT BECAME THE CAPITAL OF THE EASTERN EMPIRE
UNDER BYZANTINE RULE, BEFORE PASSING UNDER
ARABIAN DOMINATION.
FLOURISHING ONCE MORE UNDER THE NORMANS, SEVERELY
SCARRED BY THE 1693 EARTHQUAKE, SYRACUSE, ITS
URBAN FABRIC ACQUIRING A BAROQUE ASPECT WITH THE
SUBSEQUENT REBUILDING, STILL PRESERVES CONSISTENT
VESTIGES OF ITS ILLUSTRIOUS PAST, INCLUDING THE
GREEK THEATRE, ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE, STONE QUARRY,
CATACOMBS OF S. GIOVANNI, MANIACE CASTLE AND THE
DUOMO.
THE HOTEL IS LOCATED ABOUT 43 KM FROM PALAZZOLO
ACREIDE.
IN THE HEART OF THE HYBLAEAN MOUNTAINS, ON A
HEIGHT SITUATED BETWEEN THE FASCINATING ANAPO AND
TELLARO RIVER VALLEYS, STANDS PALAZZOLO ACREIDE,
A MEDIEVAL TOWN WITH NORMAN ORIGINS, ITS NUCLEUS
DEVELOPED AROUND THE CASTLE.
LYING IN AN AREA OF EXTRAORDINARY ARCHAEOLOGICAL
IMPORTANCE.
IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD, IN FACT, THERE ARE THE
REMAINS OF THE ANCIENT GREEK CITY OF AKRAI, A
COLONY FOUNDED BY THE SYRACUSANS IN 664 BC, LATER
CONQUERED BY THE ROMANS IN 214 BC, THEN DOMINATED
BY THE BYZANTINES, AS EVIDENCED BY THE ROCK
CHURCHES AND TOMBS FOUND THERE.
SUBSEQUENTLY IT WAS DESTROYED BY THE ARABS.
THE TOWN WAS BORN AGAIN THANKS TO CAREFUL
REBUILDING WORK THAT GAVE IT ITS PRESENT BAROQUE
APPEARANCE.
THERE ARE ALSO MANY EXAMPLES OF THE TOWN*S
ILLUSTRIOUS PAST IN THE AKRAI ARCHAEOLOGICAL
PARK THE REMAINS OF THE GREEK THEATRE, THOSE OF
THE BOULEUTERION, THE ROMAN DECUMAN, THE THERMAL
BATHS AND THE TEMPLE OF APHRODITE, DATING FROM
THE SIXTH CENTURY BC.
MOREOVER, THE FERALI AND SANTONI TEMPLES SHOULD
BE MENTIONED, TOGETHER WITH THE 12 GIGANTIC ROCK
SCULPTURES CONNECTED TO THE CULT OF THE GODDESS
CYBELE, AND THE HELLENIC NECROPOLIS OF THE
PINETA, WITH ABOUT 50 TOMBS CARVED INTO THE ROCK.
PALAZZOLO ACREIDE IS ALSO FAMOUS FOR ITS
SUMPTUOUS RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS, FOR ITS LONG
ESTABLISHED CARNIVAL, FOR THE IMPORTANCE OF ITS
FOLKLORE AND ITS EXCELLENT FOOD.
THE HOTEL IS LOCATED ABOUT 86 KM FROM RAGUSA.
CAPITAL OF THE PROVINCE OF THE SAME NAME SINCE
1927, HEIR OF THE SICULAN HIBLA HERAIA, RAGUSA
HAS AN ANCIENT, FASCINATING HISTORY.
SITUATED IN AN AREA INHABITED SINCE THE THIRD
MILLENNIUM BC., THE TOWN WAS FIRST OCCUPIED BY
THE GREEKS, THEN BY THE ROMANS, AND SUCCESSIVELY
BY THE BYZANTINES AND ARABS, WHO REPOPULATED THE
COUNTRYSIDE AND INTRODUCED NEW CROPS.
POWERFUL AND PROSPEROUS UNDER GODFREY THE NORMAN,
WHO SETTLED A COLONY FROM COSENZA THERE, RAGUSA
WAS THEN THE FEUD OF THE CHIARAMONTE AND CABRERA
FAMILIES WHO, CONCEDING EMPHYTEUSIS FROM 1452
ONWARDS, CAUSED A PROFOUND TRANSFORMATION OF THE
LAND, BECOMING DELIMITED BY TYPICAL DRY STONE
BOUNDARY WALLS.
DESTROYED BY THE 1693 EARTHQUAKE, RAGUSA WAS THEN
REBUILT ON TWO DISTINCT SITES, THE UPPER ONE ON
THE PATRO HILL, AND THE LOWER ONE, IBLA, ON THE
RUINS OF THE OLD MEDIEVAL CENTER, LINKED BY A
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