The Villa Romana del Tellaro Noto Antica Eloro The Sanctuars Castelluccio Vendicari

Leaving from the ancient Noto, we take on the left, the local road to Testa dell'Acqua, a rural village 4 km away, place of summer vacation where you find the school, the postal office, the chemist and the parish curch of S. Isidoro Agricola. By taking the way for Rigolizia, you run for about 3 km and you see the tourist sign which points to the former fief of Castelluccio, possessed by marquis Di Lorenzo. In this site, in the Bronze Age, we registered the settlement of a prehistoric village off the saddle of the rocky spur. The place, named Cava della Signora (Lady's Quarry) was explored by Paolo Orsi in the late 800 by digging the village site. The sides of the mountain hosts a large necropolis, made interesting by the little-cave shaped or oven tombs, where, according to the ancient rituals, were buried dead people along with dowries which were pottery jars, jade necklaces, knives, glasses, and other.

The finding of spiral-decorated hatches, which represented fertility, is considered of particular importance. It is also interesting the visits to the pillar grave along the rockery line under the village site, probably a grave for the village chief. The found items are exposed to the Regional Archeologial Museum "Paolo Orsi" of Siracusa.

Just in front of excavation gate, by means of a little ladder, we come to a building, a sort of hallway of the bizantine Oratory, named Grotta dei Santi by the peasants for the sacral pictures. The cave, dug in the bizantine period, has a circular plant with a two meters high pillar in the middle which bears the ceiling. Inside it is a series of wall paintings from the VIII century till the Sixteenth. Among the paintings on the pillar, the one representing Our Lady is valuable, also notable the Crucified Christ, and also other faded images due to humidity. The religious depictions, inside the cave, are proof of the inhabitants faith. More below, the tourist can visit the catacomb called "del Cliclope", which has relevant rests of christians grave outside.

Along the same way to Testa dell'Acqua, towards Serra del Vento, on the way to Noto, we come to the small way of the Finocchito, a small sicilian village of the IV sicilian period (730-650 B.C.).

On the mountain there lived sicilian people the same age of the greek from Akrai (Palazzolo Acreide) and Elore. This sicilian lived of bredding, sheep farming, agriculture and small trades with the sicilian greeks in Balzo del Lupo and the ones ont S. Francesco coast; they left us a lot of proofs in the necropolis. The materials found by the archeologist Paolo Orsi on the last part of the Nineteenth century were of two types: one of ancient workmanship related to trades; the other is an imitation of greeks one, like mugs, large vases, steel and amber necklaces, bracelets and rings. These items arex exposed in the Paolo Orsi museum of Siracusa. The people from Finocchito gained an advanced cultural condition because they were joined in a village with hut built upon a grave basement; they also built a round tower to protect themselves against attacks from the north. The archeologist Paolo Orsi found the "carrate Xibilia" (orbitae tensarum), which are proof of the use of carts.