Been here before and enjoyed it. This time however terrible organisation at ticket office. No queueing system everyone just pushing in. Left after 15 minutes and didn’t bother.

This vast area on the floor of the quarry once held thousands of prisoners. It was subsequently transformed into a garden; a “paradise” of lemon and orange trees typical of the Sicilian landscape. The area now called the Grotta dei Cordari is a series of rooms carved out by the quarriers. It was used into modern times by rope makers. The Syracusans worked the ropes there with the a traditional hand wheel system, and favored this location because the natural humidity and the size of the place allowed them to spread the plant fibers and transform them into threads and ropes.