When you arrive on Siracusa’s Ortigia island from the land at the Piazza Pancali, you’ll find the remains of an ancient Doric temple dedicated to Apollo, the god of the sun, light, music, poetry, and prophecy. The Temple of Apollo was built in the first half of the 6th century B.C.E. The ancient Roman scholar Cicero wrote about the structure, calling it a temple of Diana (the Roman goddess for Artemis, Apollo’s twin sister with whom he is often associated). Over the centuries, the temple was transformed into a Byzantine church, an Arab mosque, a Norman church, and finally, Spanish military barracks, which in 1860, were disassembled to reveal the original ancient columns.
