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Looking at the ancient history of Syracuse, the golden age of the town was undoubtedly the Greek period, started with the foundation by Corinthian Archias and ended with the Roman conquer in 212 BC. Syracuse, however, remained a city of great importance during the Roman age and also after the fall of the empire, during the Byzantine era, when Sicily was reconquered by the Eastern Roman Empire, under which it remained for several centuries. But we know very few about Byzantine Syracuse. Among the monuments still visible in the town today there are some termal baths dating back to the Byzantine era, which were digged in the mid-1930s by the archaeologist Giuseppe Cultrera.
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Pantalica, located in the province of Syracuse, is one of the most fascinating places to visit in eastern Sicily. It is a large area with still uncontaminated nature, where the suggestion of breathtaking panoramas blends with the charm of ancient archaeological remains.
It is necessary to clarify a bit, as the area is large and often those who want to visit it do not have clear ideas about what to see and how to reach it.
The Valle dell'Anapo Nature Reserve includes some suggestive canyons carved by the Anapo river and its tributaries. Established in 1997, this important natural area extends between the towns of Sortino and Ferla, in the province of Syracuse. The plateau formed and delimited by the Anapo river and its tributary, the Calcinara stream, is called Pantalica. In the summit part of the plateau, during the late Bronze Age, an important indigenous settlement was established, which built its necropolises along the sheer walls of Pantalica. The archaeological area of Pantalica consists mainly of necropolises composed of several thousand tombs, called "a grotticella artificiale", artificial grotto, carved into the rock between the 13th and 8th centuries BC.
