Syracuse in the Rain

On this rainy day we visited Syracuse. The ancient town at this site was founded because the Aretusa Spring provided passing sailors a source of fresh water immediately adjacent to the sea. This unusual phenomenon occurs because water from nearby mountains is filtered through miles of volcanic pumice and comes out clear, cold and clean. The Greek city-states competed to make colonies here. Athens made one at Catania, while Corinth occupied the site of Syracuse. Palermo and Messina had similar Greek roots. I photographed a building constructed in the fifth century BC as a temple to Apollo, which later served as a church and a mosque. It is one of the few ancient buildings I have ever seen with monolithic columns. They are not stacked drums, nor are they veneered brick. They are solid stone, and this technique is one of the clues we have to determine its age.

Very few buildings constructed before the 17th century exist intact. Constant earthquakes repeatedly destroyed Syracuse, and the city had to be rebuilt time after time. Mount Aetna, still an active volcano, stands nearby. The citizens of Syracuse take earthquakes in stride, and they realize that the buildings now standing will not last forever. The old buildings still in one piece generally come from the time of Spain’s King Charles II. Most often they reflect Spanish baroque influences, with a tinge of Moorish flavor thrown in for spice. As we were driving from our ship’s dock to Syracuse, we passed through unbelievably fertile farmland. One cannot help noticing how poor the countryside is, though. Hundreds of old stone houses have been abandoned. Roofless, their old stone walls stand a silent vigil over lush fields of fertile volcanic soil producing lemons, oranges and kumquats. The name Sicily itself comes from two old Greek words that mean “olives” and “figs.”

While we have seen evidence of commerce in the cities of Catania and Syracuse, my overall impression is that, despite its rich and illustrious history, Sicily has more than its share of poverty. Like the citizens of post-Civil-War Charleston, the people are too poor to paint and too proud to whitewash. Even the old baroque buildings have a kind of shabbiness about them. Unlike Spain and Rome, there are no glass and steel visitors’ centers around the Greek temples. Many of them are merely piles of stones still lying in weed-infested fields. The good news is that such poverty means that these ancient buildings will not soon be further demolished to make room for new shopping centers and automobile dealerships.

Despite its poverty, or maybe even because of it, Syracuse can grab your heart. The ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes moved here in middle age and spent the rest of his life here. My wife grew up in a little community called “Lucia,” and I must believe that somewhere that name is connected with the saint who was born here. We walked down the street where locals can still show you the exact spot where St. Lucia was born. From my perspective today’s excursion was a big hit. The has long been an empty place inside me wanting to know more about this little town over which nations have gone to war, this colony about which historians have spilled so much ink, this village that Archimedes called home. Today that empty place was filled.Read more