WHEN STONES SPEAK
THE HISTORY
The Latomia dei Cappuccini is an unmissable place to visit.
It is located on the East side of Siracusa and originally it was a quarry, which provided for centuries the raw materials needed to built the ancient city.
Over ages the vegetation got the better of all the area. It became inaccessible, also due to its extreme depth, so it was used as wartime prison; then was converted in a place of worship, for pagans and Christians as well. Still today are visible numerous underground burial chambers and graves, proof of the sacredness of this site.
FLORA
In the early 19th century the historian and archaeologist Giuseppe Maria Capodieci wrote about when the University of Siracusa donated the Latomia to the capuchin monks in 1582: they built a fortified monastery on top of it; moreover created a huge and thriving vegetable garden and planted trees and greenery inside the area. This garden was always been really important, not only because of the rarity of the trees species, but also for their height: some of them are almost 20-30 meters high, due to necessary research of the sun which shone down just few hours a day.
Nowadays some centenarian poplar trees survived, and have been represented for centuries by international artists and travellers, participants of the Grand Tour, like Jean-Pierre Houel who expressed his admiration for this historic garden saying “nothing is more fascinating in Siracusa than the Latomia…”.
In 1866 after the Church property confiscation law, the Latomia became public property and has been heritage of the city of Siracusa since then.
NOTE
LOCATION:
Piazza Cappuccini , Siracusa, SR 96100
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COORDINATES:
37.078122 15.295508499999983
STRUCTURE
Walking down suggestive back-roads and paths, you’ll be surrounded and enchanted by stunning beauties: huge stone pillars support massive stone blocks, and secret and mysterious caves turned into perfect natural theatres. Some of that man-made caves still show the traces of ancient wells used by Capuchin monks to drew water and irrigate their gardens. The walls of the quarry as well still show the signs of the techniques used to extract the white limestone rocks. Then just in the middle of this immense natural park, there are two huge rock pillars; one of them looks like a crocodile head with its jaws wide open.
NATURAL THEATRE
Up until the 1970s, the Latomia dei Cappuccini was one of the main city’s attractions, a place where you could spend an evening, in particular in the beautiful and natural “Teatro di Verdura”. It used to be the stage of some representations realized by the same actors whose play during the Classical performances at the Greek Theatre, for example acted fine artists such as Vittorio Gasmann, Elena Zareschi, Annibale Ninchi and so many others.
Erga has implemented a sustainable management system that is adequate for its size and scope. Its organization complies with all the regulations in force at local, national and international level, with particular reference, among others, to health, safety, work and environmental aspects. Erga undertakes to respect and enforce the rules of conduct appropriate to the places visited, the sea, nature reserves and places of worship. Particular attention should be paid to avoiding waste in the environment and, where existing, to respect the rules of separate collection.
