Page 367 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

hotels, bars and restaurants, though there is a stretch of free public beach as well. An

unofficial coastal path heads off south along the cliffs, taking you to a handful of
swimming spots, but no beach. If you get off the bus at the junction between the road
to Fontane Bianche and the main SS113 (whether you arrive here before or after
arriving in Fontane Bianche depends on the route), a 10–15min walk along the main
road brings you to the utterly lovely La Marchesa beach, backed by orange groves.

There is a charge for access during the summer, but if you speak nicely to the
custodian in low season he will usually let you in.

Megara Hyblaea

Daily: June–Sept 9am–7pm; Oct–May 9am–1hr before sunset; last entry 1hr before closing • €4

The extensive (and well-signposted) remains of MEGARA HYBLAEA are
considered to be the most complete model of an Archaic city still surviving. The
settlement prospered as a Greek colony after the Sikel king of Hybla had granted land
alongside his own to Greeks from Megara (near Athens). By the middle of the seventh
century BC, the population had done so well out of trade and their high-quality pottery

that they were able to found some minor colonies of their own, including Selinus in the
west, though their city was eventually submerged by Syracusan ambitions and
destroyed by Gelon in 482 BC. The town flourished again later in the fourth century
BC, but was finally levelled by the Romans in the same avenging campaign that ended
Syracuse’s independence in 214 BC. Most of the ruins belong to the fourth-century

revival, but the fortifications were erected a century later, interrupted by the Romans’
arrival. Various buildings lie confusingly scattered over a wide area, though all the
finds are in Siracusa’s Museo Archeologico.

< Back to Siracusa and the southeast

Pantalica

Always open • Free
PANTALICA, Sicily’s greatest necropolis, lies in the folds of the Monti Iblei, around

40km northwest of Siracusa. Here, in the deep gorge of the River Anapo, you can
follow tracks past several thousand tombs hollowed out of the valley sides at five
separate locations. Several skeletons were found in each tomb, suggesting that a few
thousand people once lived in what is now largely a craggy wilderness. It’s an
extraordinary location, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but it’s virtually
impossible to get to Pantalica by public transport; by car, the approaches are from the

small towns of Sortino or Ferla, at either end of the gorge, with parking at various
points near both places; the northern necropolis, approached via Sortino, makes the
most dramatic introduction to the area.