Carmela Iurato

I grew up in Ortigia, a two-minute walk from the cathedral, and have spent years explaining to visitors why a Greek temple is still visible inside a Christian church. On camera I hold on the columns embedded in the cathedral's side wall, since they are the clearest surviving trace of the original Temple of Athena underneath centuries of later building. I studied classical archaeology before becoming a guide, and I still find new details in that wall most weeks. I keep my sessions unhurried, since the square outside rewards a slow look as much as the building itself.