Piazza Archimede in Syracuse is a charming square lined by buildings which represent all the sicilian history, from Middle Age to the Baroque period. In the center is located the beautiful fountain of Diana Arthemis, made by the sculptor Giulio Moschetti in 1906 which represent the legend of Arethusa escaping from Alpheus while he tries to chase her.
The buildings that overlook the square trace ideally the whole history of the island up to nowadays.
Going clockwise we meet the Bank of Sicily palace, built in 1928, characterized by a portal characterized by a portal framed by columns and by a second order with Ionic pilasters. On the east side there is the Palazzo (1773 – 1800), with its slightly convex and irregular facade.
In the junction between via della Maestranza and Via Roma is located the original Palazzo Interlandi Pizzuti, built on the area of Palazzo Landolina. Then you can admire Palazzo Gargallo, founded during the seventeenth and then renovated with rich decorations during the years 1895 - 1899.
Contiguous to Palazzo Gargallo is Palazzo Lanza – Bucceri – originally Platamone, of which still has armorial bearings on the capitals of the columns. The building of the Bank of Italy (or “of the Clock”) - a fifteenth century building, rebuilt in the 50s - closes the fourth side of the square.
In the square is located the new Museum Arkimedeion, which opened in December 2011. It is a scientific and technological museum dedicated to the great Syracusan mathematician and physicist who lived between 287 and 212 BC: Archimedes was really a genius, certainly the greatest scientist of classical antiquity. Inside the museum, through 24 interactive exibits specifically designed to capture the attention of the audience, are illustrated both the great inventions and the scientific issues of Archimedes. Each exhibit is accompanied by a media that allow the visitor to better understand the great mathematical discoveries (measurements of surfaces and volumes, squaring the circle, calculating the center of gravity of the body) and physical discoveries (the lever principle, the floating bodies) carried by the genius from Syracuse. The explanations are often entrusted with stimulating simulations, and are accompanied by historical notes, information about the work of Archimedes, anecdotes, bibliography, in order to guide the visitor in the historical period in which Archimedes lived and in the heart of his great discoveries. The various topics discussed are grouped under three main lines: machines for war and peace, mathematics and geometry, physics, statics and hydrostatics, as well as a planetarium.
Website: http://www.arkimedeion.it
Times-daily from 9:30 to 19:00
Ticket: € 6.00
Reduced (for young people aged 6 to 14 years) € 4.00 Reduced (more than 4 family members) € 4.00
Reduced (for groups larger than 10 people) € 4.00