The Vendicari Nature Reserve is mainly renowned because of the unique characteristics of its flora and fauna and its extraordinarily beautiful beaches. However the area also discloses a rich archaeological heritage. As a matter of fact, the fertility of its lands, together with the numerous natural harbours, the abundance of marine salt and fish fostered the continuous anthropization of the place from protohistory to Modern Age.
Our archaeological private tour will begin with the visit to the ruins of Eloro, a Greek city established by Syracuse at the end of the 8th century BC. This colony attained an economic and monumental peak between the 4th and 3rd century BC.
The visit will continue among the mosaics of the Roman Villa of the River Tellaro, whose structures were part of a vast senatorial latifundium of the middle of the 4th century AD.
In the heart of the Vendicari Nature Reserve, near the Medieval tower built by Peter of Aragon in the first half of the 15th century, we will then walk among the ruins of two tuna fisheries: the former used by Greeks and Romans between the 4th century BC and the 2nd century AD, the latter employed by tuna fishermen from the 17th century.
We will conclude our expert-led tour in the Byzantine town of Cittadella dei Maccari, an important coastal village inhabited from the 5th century to the 9th century AD, going into the impressive structures of a church and several catacombs.
