Ortigia is one of those exceptional places in the world, where nature, myth and history seem to have fused perfectly in a concentrated area.
This extraordinary circumstance has ensured the city a place in history, not forgotten by time but a place that is always alive. The special natural characteristics explain and justify the reason why since ancient times, human beings have always settled here.

Crossing over Ponte Umbertino which separates Ortigia from the rest of Siracusa, one has the sensation of returning to a remote place and yet at the same time a strong feeling that one is in an intimate and serene environment.
Beginning in fact with the 5th century BC, during the period of the Greek colonisation, Sicily was the constant arrival point of intense cultural influence from the East, particularly the South East coast, which was the theatre of legendary landings of mythical heroes, as well as merchants and colonisers.

The most famous myth of Siracusa is the story of the overwhelming passion of Alpheus, god of the river Elide for the nymph Arethusa, where the spring celebrated by so many poets is and where Admiral Nelson in 1798 provided his fleet with fresh water before sailing on to North Africa to defeat Napoleon at Abukir.
This myth represents one of the most tangible signs of the cultural patrimony brought to Sicilian soil by the Greeks, particularly to Siracusa, the metaphoric and ideal point of arrival from the Western Mediterranean.
Pindar in his splendid evocations, narrates how much the god Artemis was sacred to Ortigia. A recent discovery in the central sanctuary has brought to light the effigy of the great Artemis on a precious vase of pre-Corinthian style. The sanctuary is still to this day the heart of the city. The Piazza del Duomo, after much restoration, has now returned to its former architectural dignity and is considered one of the most signigicant and beautiful baroque squares in Sicily. The square is not only the central and focal point of the island, it has also been the site of religious worship for 4,000 years. In this area, in
fact, significant evidence of indigenous communities from the l5th to the 9th centuries BC has ben found, replaced in the 8th century BC by he Greek colonisers from Corinth, who built their first sacred dwelling. This consecrated the foundation of the city and
constituted the first nucleus of the sanctuary becoming the most famous in the Greek city. It was in this place in 480 BC that the Tyrant, Gelone , erected the very famous temple to Athena, which was consequently transformed into a Christian church and then in the 6th
century into a cathedral.
The process of building continued until the end of the l7th century, when the open space down to the sea shore of the Porto Grande, headquarters of the pre-historic dwellings, the site of the Greek sanctuary and the plan of the cathedral in medieval times, was transformed into a closed area, a square around which were built public buildings with a late baroque appearance.

Ortigia is therefore witness to superimposing constructions of thousands of years, even the more modern buildings present a dependance on ancient Greek structure. The archaelogical monuments, such as the temple of Apollo at the entrance to Ortigia and the temple of Athena are in fact considered cornerstones of ancient Greek urban planning.
The exceptional natural elements provide a framework to everything that each epoch, in either a showy or discrete fashion has donated to this city, significantly contributing to an emotional impact that is experienced on seeing it.