Exploring Siracusa, once the power of the Mediterranean

SIRACUSA -- The seven Chippings on the Giro di Sicilia wandered about the ancient and modern city of Siracusa yesterday.

They bought pasta, cheese and vegetables at the open air market in the old quarter of Ortigia. They scrambled up the 2,500-year-old Teatro Greco, an open-air amphitheater built to accommodate 15,000 people who came to view the plays of Euripides and the gladiatorial combat of the Romans. And they rode their bikes through the narrow lanes of the Jewish quarter (at least until they were expelled in 1492). Narrow lane bike riding ended when Gianni DeR had a gentle collision with a woman motorist who called him a word usually not included in Italian-English dictionaries.



Spazio in the Teatro Greco, said to be the largest and best preserved Greek amphitheater in the world.



Gianni DeR exits the cave called the "Orecchio di Dionisio" ("The ear of Dionysius") in Siracusa's archeological park. The cavern was used as a jail.



Intrepid Chipping photographers Filippo and Giannia DeR shoot stunning shots of a lemon tree.



The Baroque cathedral plaza. The cathedral itself includes massive Doric columns, some of them fractured by the 1693 earthquake that destroyed much of southeastern Sicily.



A street scene in Ortigia, the ancient quarter where the Greeks first settled and now the heart and soul of the city.

Location:Siracusa, Italia