The fresco of the Forty Martyrs of Sebaste was an extraordinary revelation: it was hidden under a layer of hydraulic mortar, apart from one pictorial element on the vault: a clipeus, a portrait inscribed in a shield-shaped tondo, depicting the praying Virgin. The work presents a complex representat...

Born in Genoa in 1910, Luigi Bernabò Brea was one of the most important Italian archaeologists of the 20th century. His name is deeply linked to the archaeological discoveries of eastern Sicily, where he moved in 1941 to serve as Superintendent of Antiquities. The Italian archaeologist dedicated h...

In art, "Baroque" indicates a style that developed in the 17th century and aims to amaze and astound the viewer. In painting, sculpture and architecture, Baroque works are characterised by large dimensions, strong theatricality and the search for movement, through the use of curved shapes and rich d...

The fortifications were not gifted to the city by the Spanish, but were paid for by the Syracusans through the imposition of very steep taxes. At the time of construction of the first forts, these taxes were commonly known as the "Maleimposte" (bad taxes)....

The Euryalus Fortress was also the backdrop to more recent events. In 1941, during the Second World War, it was necessary to transform the underground tunnels of the Fortress into a shelter to protect the archaeological collections of the Paolo Orsi Museum from bombing. Numerous wagons carried the...

A particular type of tomb is described as "a grotticella", meaning cave-like, also called "a forno" (furnace-like), and is commonly found in Sicilian necropolises during the Bronze Age. Small chambers called grottoes were dug into the limestone at variable depths and were shaped similar to a furnace...

The most evocative part of the complex is the 17th-century Baroque temple, located in the centre of the catacombs, which houses the Martyr's tomb. The relics were kept here until the year 1039 when the Byzantine general Giorgio Maniace brought St. Lucy's body to Constantinople to pay homage to the ...

In the time of Hiero II, an underground corridor was built which crossed the entire orchestra of the theatre. The recess was accessed by a ladder that led from the stage to a small room: this set-up was identified as Charon's Staircase. The name of this scenic device immediately provides a clue as...

According to Greek religion, nymphs are divine powers of forests, mountains and trees, but above all of water and springs. Immortal and beautiful, nymphs are the companions of the hunting goddess Artemis. When Pan, god of the wild and nature, plays the flute, the nymphs dance, walk on the mountain...

The Naumachiae were naval combat performances that reproduced important historical battles such as the Greek victory over the Persians at Salamis, or even the Athenian siege of the city of Syracuse. The spectators followed, with rapt attention, every stage of the performance, taking sides, just as ...