The Duomo of Siracusa

 In one of the prettiest piazzas in all of Italy sits the Cathedral (Duomo) of Siracusa.  Looking splendid in its theatrical Baroque style, it is actually made of of several manifestations of architecture.  And the most amazing, really, is its beginning as a Greek temple honoring Athena, the goddess of war.  Dating from 480 B.C., the temple's original steps are visible along the base of the current structure:

And when you enter this glorious place, you can see evidence of the different cultural influences: from Greek to Byzantine, then Arab, then Norman, then Baroque in the 18th century.

The interior is massive, and the original monolithic columns are visible.  These are HUGE, and they were cut from ONE stone.  Later the Romans would make huge columns like this but they were pieces that were stacked and held together with pins, essentially.  These are huge.  So elegant.  So awe-inspiring. 

In December of 2014, the cathedral came into possession of sacred relic of Santa Lucia, who is the patron saint of Sicily and was originally from Siracusa, I believe.  I told her story of martyrdom last month so you can look that up if you want.  Here we have a piece of her left arm:

And I love this inlaid marble cartouche of her eyeballs:

The façade of the Duomo is in the Baroque style of the 18th century.  That is because much of the building crumbled in the big earthquake of the late 17th century.  So it was rebuilt in the style of the day.

And nearby, there is an Italian film underway.  When I shot this video I didn't know what was going on.  Later I discovered they are doing a remake of Il Gattopardo (The Leopard).  This is based on Lampedusa's novel of the same name, and is largely autobiographical.  It is about the collapse of the aristocratic families who were descended from Spanish aristocracy dating back a couple hundred years.  With the Risorgimento of the 19th century, which led to the creation of Italy as a country, these old families and their lifestyle and privilege, just faded away.

Ciao!