Cathedral of Syracuse
Duomo di Siracusa
Interesting facts
- Cicero, prosecuting the governor Verres in 70 BC, described the temple's gold-and-ivory doors and painted panels that Verres had plundered.
- A gilded shield on the temple's roof served as a landmark for departing sailors, who made offerings at sea once it vanished from view.
- Excavations by Paolo Orsi in 1907–1910 uncovered an altar from the 8th century BC and traces of an earlier 6th-century BC temple.
- Each of the ancient Doric column shafts is about 2 metres in diameter.
- In 1100 an earthquake brought down the vault during a service, killing many worshippers.
- The 1693 earthquake destroyed the bell tower for good; it was never rebuilt.
- Battlements from the Norman rebuilding still survive along the cornices of the church.
- A silver statue of Saint Lucy, made in 1599–1600 by Pietro Rizzo, holds a plate bearing her eyes and is carried in procession each December.
- During the Second World War the cathedral survived bombing that brought down other churches in Syracuse.
- Its six bells were cast in Bologna in 1925 by the founder Cesare Brighenti.
Why it is worth it
Walk along the side of the Cathedral of Syracuse and you are walking past a Greek temple. The massive Doric columns of the Temple of Athena, built in the 5th century BC, are embedded in the church's walls and remain visible both outside and inside, so that 2,500 years of Sicilian history can be read in a single building on the island of Ortygia, the historic core of Syracuse.
The temple was commissioned by the tyrant Gelon after his victory over the Carthaginians at the Battle of Himera in 480 BC. It was a Doric peripteral temple with six columns on the short sides and fourteen on the long sides, about 22 by 55 metres. In the 7th century AD Bishop Zosimo converted the temple into a church, keeping the ancient colonnade as part of the new walls rather than pulling it down. Under Arab rule the building served as a mosque from 878, until the Norman count Roger I took Syracuse in 1086 and returned it to Christian worship.
The great earthquake of 1693 brought down the old front, and between 1725 and 1753 Andrea Palma gave the cathedral the High Sicilian Baroque façade that now presides over Piazza del Duomo, with a double order of Corinthian columns and statues by Ignazio Marabitti. Inside, the rough ancient stonework sits beside Baroque chapels, a marble baptismal font of the 12th–13th century, a ciborium by Luigi Vanvitelli and a Madonna carved by Antonello Gagini in 1512. The church keeps relics of Saint Lucy, patron of Syracuse. Ortygia and the city's ancient quarters form part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica, inscribed in 2005.
Getting there
The cathedral stands on Ortygia, about 2 km from the centre of modern Syracuse. Catania-Fontanarossa Airport (CTA) is about 50 km to the north.
Plan your visit
We have no confirmed visit data yet. Once it is confirmed, this block also carries the date it was checked.
Nearby places
- Ear of Dionysius 2.4 km · quarry
On these lists
From the encyclopaedia
The Cathedral of Syracuse, formally the Cattedrale metropolitana della Natività di Maria Santissima, is an ancient Catholic church in Syracuse, Sicily, the seat of the Catholic Archdiocese of Siracusa. Its structure is originally a Greek doric temple, and for this reason it is included in a UNESCO World Heritage Site designated in 2005.
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