Italy · Sicilia · Siracusa
Santa Panagia, Siracusa — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Santa Panagia lines Siracusa's north-western edge, strung along Viale Santa Panagia and ending at a rock-cut Byzantine oratory above the sea.
About Santa Panagia
Where to stay in Santa Panagia
Each area has its own feel; here's who each one suits.
Santa Panagia was built as housing for Siracusa rather than as a lodging quarter, and what beds it has stand along Viale Santa Panagia, some two kilometres north of Neapolis. Ortygia lies further south still. Stay here if you are driving, or if you would rather finish the day on the coast path below the Tonnara di Santa Panagia than in the lanes of the old city.
About Santa Panagia
What are the main landmarks in Santa Panagia?
Santa Panagia keeps its oldest fabric down at the shore rather than along Viale Santa Panagia. The Tonnara di Santa Panagia stands abandoned above its inlet, with the oratorio rupestre di Santa Panagia cut into the rock beside it and the walled-up Stazione di Santa Panagia at the entrance to the site. Nets last dropped here around 1970.
Up in the streets, the Chiesa della Sacra Famiglia stands almost at the quarter's centre. The Greek Theatre of Syracuse and the Museo archeologico regionale Paolo Orsi belong to Neapolis, two kilometres south of here.
What is the history of Santa Panagia?
Santa Panagia is named for a Byzantine rock church cut into the cliff above its shore, well outside the walls of the Greek city. The ground was Tiche, one of the five quarters of ancient Siracusa, and the Hexapylon gate on the northern road stood where the streets now run out toward Scala Greca. Marcus Claudius Marcellus took the city from this side in 212 BC, his scouts having found the Dionysian walls low enough to climb.
The Tonnara di Santa Panagia worked the bay from 1100. Housing arrived last, from the 1970s.
Where is Santa Panagia?
Santa Panagia holds the north-western edge of Siracusa, inland of Capo Santa Panagia and bounded by Scala Greca, Mazzarona, and Targia.
Good for
More areas in Siracusa
Updated September 2026