Tempio di Apollo

Frommer's Review

At the Piazza Pancali on the island of Ortygia, this Greek temple dating from the 6th century B.C is the oldest peripteral (having a row of columns on each side) Doric temple in the world. The inscription says that the temple honors Apollo. However, after Cicero came to Syracuse, he wrote that the temple was dedicated to Artemis. Regardless, the temple faced a rocky future -- it was first turned into a Byzantine Church before the Saracens took over and converted it into a mosque. Later, under Norman rule, it was turned back into a church. On a square across the bridge to Ortygia, the fenced-off ruins can be viewed at any time.

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