Syracuse: feasts and traditions

Syracuse was founded in 733 BC by settlers from Corinth led by Archias, who landed on the island of Ortygia (Ortigia). It grew into one of the great cities of the Greek world: it was ruled by tyrants such as Dionysius I, and it was the birthplace of Archimedes, who organized its defense during the Roman siege. In 212 BC the city fell to Rome and became the main center of Roman Sicily; Cicero called it "the greatest and most beautiful of Greek cities".

After the 1693 earthquake, the historic center of Ortygia was rebuilt in Baroque style. The heart of the island is Piazza Duomo, whose cathedral was built inside a Doric temple of Athena from the 5th century BC. Since 2005, Syracuse and the rock-cut necropolis of Pantalica have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The city's patron saint is Lucy, a young woman from Syracuse martyred in 304. Her feast, on 13 December with the octave a week later, carries the silver statue from the cathedral on Ortygia to the site of her martyrdom in the Santa Lucia neighborhood.