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Ortigia is the ancient island heart of Syracuse , on the eastern coast of Sicily . A short stone bridge joins it to the mainland , but it feels entirely apart . At dawn , fishing boats dock along its edges . They unload spiny sea urchins and slabs of swordfish still cold from the water . By midday , that catch has crossed the Mercato di Ortigia and reached the surrounding trattorie . The market spreads under canvas awnings near the Temple of Apollo . You smell salt and cut lemon long before the first stall . Then the colours appear : orange roe , silver fish and dark - red prawns on crushed ice . The gamberi rossi di Mazara — deep - red prawns from the Sicilian channel — arrive raw , curled on white ceramic . Their flesh is cool and sweet , needing little beyond a thread of olive oil . Sea urchin roe , gold - orange against the white plate , carries a clean oceanic sharpness . Swordfish , sliced translucent - thin as carpaccio , is pale silver on the tile table . Those tile tables , set in the shadow of the awning , are where you want to sit . Most seafood plates at the small restaurants edging the market sit in the low to mid price band . Stay after the plates are cleared . The afternoon light falls at a low angle across Ortigia 's honey - coloured limestone . The harbour water below turns a deep , flat green . It is very quiet for somewhere so small .
