Fonte Ciane

Useful Information

Location:	96100 Siracusa SR. (37.04225, 15.23525)
Open:	No restrictions. [2024]
Fee:	free. [2024]
Classification:	Karst Spring Gateway to Hell
Light:	n/a
Dimension:
Guided tours:	self guided
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:
Address:	Fonte Ciane, 96100 Siracusa SR.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1984	Natural Preserve of Fiume Ciane and Saline di Siracusa created.

Description

Fonte Ciane (Ciane Spring) is the source of the homonymous Ciane river. This river is quite short, after only 5 km through the coastal plain it flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The whole area is karstified, and there is an underground cave which is completely water filled. It drains the rainwater from the hills in the west to Syracuse. The coastal plain around Syracusa is covered by impermeable sediments, so the water has no possibility to resurface. Most of the water flows underground to the Mediterranean Sea and forms submarine springs. This spring is one of the few exceptions, here a small part of the aquifer comes to the surface and flows on the surface to the sea.

Fonte Ciane was the location where Hades entered the underworld with his bride Persephone, daughter of the goddess Demeter. Ciane was a water nymph or naiad and companion to Persephone. She tried to prevent Hades from leaving with his unwilling bride. So she told him how she agreed to Anapus' courtship out of love and not out of compulsion. Anapus (Greek: Αναπος) was god of the river Anapus in eastern Sicily. He was worshiped by the Syracusans, who depicted him as a young man. But her story failed to convince the god of the underworld. The nymph Ciane was overcome with grief and dissolved into tears, creating this azure lake.

That’s more or less the way how the Roman author Ovid told this story. Diodorus Siculus tells in his book The Library of History that Hercules instituted worship rites for the goddesses at this site, and Gelon constructed a temple in their honor. However, archaeological excavations during more than 100 years could not reveal any remains of those temples. But the surrounding limestone hills are full of Bronze Age tombs. The remains which were found in the graves are on display in the Museo Archeologico Regionale Paolo Orsi.

Quite exceptional is the naturally growing papyrus in the spring. This is actually the only spot in Europe where papyrus (Cyperus papyrus) grows. Nevertheless, it is generally not considered a natural occurrence, most likely it was a gift from the Egyptian ruler Ptolemy II Philadelphus to Hiero II of Syracuse.