Jewish Tour All Inclusive - Syracuse

Our tour starts at the temple of Apollo, which contains multiple stories. Born in the 6th century BC as a temple for the cult of Apollo, but history will lead it to be much more: Christian church, Arab mosque, Norman church, Spanish barracks and even residential building.

Visiting the remains of the Temple of Apollo, brought to light by the recovery works that began in the 1800s, you will be able to see details of its different lives: from the Doric capitals, to an Arabic inscription to a typically Norman door.

This temple, today, is the oldest Doric temple in Sicily and visiting it will be like entering a time machine.

We then continue towards Palazzo Montalto, one of the few medieval buildings that survived the terrible earthquake of 1693. The Montalto palace was built, as evidenced by an inscription, in 1397 by Maciotta Mergulese. However, it was later donated by Queen Costanza of Aragon to the Jew Filippo Montalto, from whom it takes its name.

On a three-light window of the building it is possible to see a star of David.

In Via della Giudecca, whose name makes us understand the high concentration of Jewish history in the area, we find the Church of San Filippo. This rises, it is thought, on what was once a great synagogue and hides a well-kept secret. Below the church there are in fact hypogea, underground buildings common throughout Ortigia and often connected to each other.

Under the Church of San Filippo it is possible to walk through a tunnel dug in the stone that leads to a miqwè, a sacred place where purification baths were carried out. The synagogues of the city were banned and destroyed following the edict of expulsion of the Jews, but some miqwè (or mikvé) resisted the passage of time giving us the opportunity to visit them.

Jewish bath Continuing along via della Giudecca we will arrive at one of the oldest Jewish baths (miqwè) in the world, where water from an aquifer still flows. It is a priceless historical jewel, found during renovation works. Walled by the owner following the edict of expulsion of the Jews, this Jewish ritual bath has survived practically intact to this day, constituting a historical marvel to be visited absolutely

Church of San Giovanni Battista The church of San Giovanni Battista (also known as the church of San Giovannello) is the last stop on this tour. Also in this case we are in the presence of a synagogue converted into a Catholic church later on. Its origins date back to 1380 and are visible in the architecture of the structure. Having been a synagogue, it was connected through hypogea to ritual baths. The miqwè of the synagogue that stood in place of the Church of S. Giovanni are precisely those that we find under the Church of San Filippo, which can still be accessed thanks to the underground tunnels.