Full Day Archaeological Tour in Pantalica and Palazzolo Acreide

Trekking tour in Palazzolo Acreide

Tour Price : €300 Duration : 8 hours Languages: English, Italian

As both part of the World Heritage List of UNESCO, the prehistoric site of Pantalica and Palazzolo Acreide represent the key to the understanding of the settlement dynamics of human beings in South East Sicily. We will visit the most important architectural and archaeological treasures of the Hyblaean plateau of Syracuse, which is entirely framed by an enchanting natural landscape made of an impressive prehistoric rocky necropolis, Greek civil and religious architecture, Paleochristian catacombs, medieval rocky churches, and Baroque buildings.

The tour begins with the visit to the archaeological site of Pantalica, which contains almost 4000 tombs cut into the limestone between the 13th and the 8th centuries BC. You will also go in the so-called "Anaktoron", a megalithic building erected during the 12th century BC, and different rock-cut churches and catacombs.

We will then head to the Archaeological Park of Akrai, a Greek polis established by Syracuse in 664/663 BC to keep control of the Hyblaean uplands. Here you will admire one of the best preserved Greek theaters in Sicily and South Italy, a bouleutérion, built for the city government, the Aphrodite Temple, and the great stone quarries of Intagliata and Intagliatella. In Palazzolo Acreide, one of the Baroque towns rebuilt after the terrible 1693 earthquake, we will go sightseeing around the oldest area. Here we will go into the ruins of the Medieval castle, and the Baroque Churches of San Paolo and San Sebastiano.

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