733 b.C.
A group of Corinthians, lead by Archia, arrives at Ortigia island and, after having shooed, establishes the polis of Syrakousai.
212 a.C.
The city is besieged by the Romans guided by the consul Marco Claudio Marcellus and, after a very long time, succumbs. It became the capital of Roman Sicily.
283 a.C.
Lucia is born in Siracusa. The young girl will be made martyr after the persecutions of the Christians with the edict of the Roman emperor Diocleziano; Saint Lucia, will become one of the more loved saint in the world.
304 a.C.
During the empire of Dioclezianus, on 13h December, there is the martyrdom of Saint Lucia, who immediately becomes the protector of the city.
663-669 d.c.
Siracusa becomes capital of Eastern Roman Empire.
878
The city is taken by the Arabs, after a long siege called The Siege of Siracusa led by Governor Giafar Ibn Muhammed and narrated by the Syracusan monk Teodosio.
1040
Byzantin general Giorgio Maniace takes the city with some Italian and Norman comrades. Among them, William Iron Arm.
1302
Siracusa becomes headquarters of the Queens of Sicily, and is ruled by them for a long period.
1609
The painter Caravaggio, who painted The Burial of Saint Lucia, arrived in the city, fleeing from Malta.
1693
After the terrible heartquake of Val di Noto, the city is rebuild in a Baroque style, that has a great flowering in all the south-eastern Sicily.
1798
Lord Horatio Nelson is received with a great welcome at the port of Syracuse, before leaving to Egypt to fight against Napoleone Bonaparte.
1800-1810
Archbishop G. Maria Amorelli puts together a collection of paintings including, among other things, the “St. Leonardo “(Palazzo Bellomo).
1861
Siracusa becomes part of the Regno d’Italia (Kingdom of Italy).
1990
The city is hit by a violent earthquake, with its epicenter in Augusta, called the earthquake of Saint Lucia.
2005
Siracusa and the Pantalica necropolis, is inscribed on the World Heritage List.