Syracuse eats better than towns twice its size, and the reason is sitting in the middle of Ortigia six mornings a week.
The market here is not a spectacle laid on for visitors. It is where the restaurants shop and where the town shops, and everything good on a menu in this city passed through it that morning. Start there and the rest follows. The wider planning is in my complete guide to Syracuse.
The market itself
Roughly seven in the morning until two, Monday to Saturday. Closed Sunday, which catches people out.
It runs along a couple of streets at the northern end of the island. Crates of tomatoes and lemons straight onto the pavement, herbs in bunches, cheese, and a fish section that is the real event: whole swordfish with the blade still attached, octopus, sea urchins in season, and the prawns.
Go at nine. By noon the good things have gone and the heat has arrived.
The sandwich, and the queue for it
There is a cheese counter in the middle of the market that has become mildly famous for building sandwiches to order, and it deserves the reputation.
Open seven until four, Monday to Saturday. The queue at eleven is forty minutes. Go before half past nine or after half past two and it is five.
Do not order specifically. Say fai tu, which means you decide, and then stand back and watch it get assembled: fresh cheese made on the premises, cured meat, grilled vegetables, herbs, oil, and a running commentary. It is enormous. It is lunch for two people and it costs under ten euros.
Eat it standing up on the sea wall. This is not a restaurant experience and trying to make it one misses it.
The prawns are the local thing
Gambero rosso, the red prawn, from the deep water off the south east coast.
They are scarlet raw and they are eaten that way: split, with nothing on them but lemon and possibly a little oil. The texture is closer to scallop than to a cooked prawn and the flavour is sweet and mineral.
Every fish restaurant in the city has them. They are not cheap and they are the single most local thing you can order. If a menu offers them cooked in something elaborate, order something else.
What else to eat here
Pasta with sea urchin in spring, which is intense and worth trying once.
Swordfish, grilled simply, and it is local rather than shipped.
Almond granita with a brioche for breakfast, which is a Sicilian habit that takes about a day to acquire and considerably longer to give up.
Cannoli, filled to order and never in advance, and if a place has them sitting filled in a case, walk on.
Nero d’Avola and Frappato for red, both grown just inland. Moscato di Noto if you want the local sweet wine after dinner.
Where to eat, by type
In a lane, at a small table. This is the Ortigia default and it is the right one. The side lanes off the main street fill with tables from about seven and the food is simple, fish heavy and good.
On the sea wall. More expensive, and you are paying for the water. Worth it once.
On the cathedral square. The most beautiful setting in the city and the food is generally the weakest in it. Go for a drink rather than dinner.
Away from the island. The mainland has the places locals use on ordinary evenings, and they are cheaper and less pretty and often better. Ask where your hotel staff eat.
Timing
Lunch runs from about half past twelve to three, then almost everything closes.
Dinner does not start before eight and the room does not fill until half past nine. Turning up at seven means eating alone, which is fine but tells you something.
Book on Friday and Saturday in season, and for anywhere on the sea wall.
What to avoid
Menus in six languages with photographs. The usual rule, and it holds here.
The cathedral square for a meal. Beautiful, and you are paying for the view.
Filled cannoli in a display case. They go soft within the hour. Filled to order or not at all.
Assuming Sunday works. The market shuts and a good number of restaurants take Sunday evening or Monday off.
Breakfast, which is not what you expect
Sicilian breakfast in summer is granita and a brioche, and in Syracuse it is usually almond.
You tear the brioche and dip it. It sounds like a dessert and it is, and after two days you will not want anything else. Almond, lemon, coffee and pistachio are the standard flavours, and almond is the one to start with.
Out of summer it reverts to a coffee and a pastry standing at a bar, taken quickly.
Aperitivo, and the timing of an evening
The rhythm here is worth learning because it makes the evening work.
Seven to eight: a drink somewhere on the sea wall or the square, watching the light go.
Eight thirty onwards: dinner, and the room will not be full until half past nine.
After eleven: the square, a granita or a last glass, and everyone still out.
Trying to eat at seven puts you an hour and a half ahead of the town.
If you do not eat fish
Be aware this is a fish city and the good places lean hard on it.
You will do fine, but look for the places doing Sicilian vegetable cooking properly rather than a fish restaurant’s single pasta. Aubergine, chickpeas, wild greens and the local ricotta are all excellent here.
Read also: the best things to do in Syracuse, Ortigia, the island old town, and my complete guide to Syracuse.
Frequently Asked Questions
What food is Syracuse known for?
Red prawns from the deep water off the south east coast, eaten raw with lemon, are the local speciality. Beyond that: swordfish, sea urchin pasta in spring, almond granita with brioche for breakfast, and cannoli filled to order. The wines to look for are Nero d’Avola and Frappato.
When is the Ortigia market open?
Roughly seven in the morning until two in the afternoon, Monday to Saturday. It does not open on Sunday. Go around nine, when the fish is still good and the heat has not arrived.
What is the famous sandwich shop in Syracuse?
A cheese counter in the middle of the Ortigia market that makes enormous sandwiches to order with cheese made on the premises. It runs seven until four, Monday to Saturday. Go before half past nine or after half past two to avoid a long queue, and order by saying “fai tu”.
What time do people eat dinner in Syracuse?
Dinner service starts around eight and rooms do not fill until half past nine. Lunch runs from about half past twelve until three, after which most kitchens close until the evening.
Where should you not eat in Syracuse?
The restaurants directly on the cathedral square trade on one of the finest settings in Sicily and the cooking rarely matches it. Have a drink there instead and eat in the side lanes, or cross to the mainland where locals eat on ordinary evenings.
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