Siracusa is the main railway station of the Italian city of Syracuse (It.

Italian language

Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

: Siracusa), in Sicily

Sicily

Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...

. Like Palermo Centrale

Palermo Centrale railway station

Palermo Centrale is the main railway station of the Italian city of Palermo, capital of Sicily. It is one of the most important "FS" stations of Italy. Along with Catania Centrale, Messina Centrale and Syracuse it is one of the most important stations of its region...

, Catania Centrale

Catania Centrale railway station

Catania Centrale is the main railway station of the Italian city of Catania, in Sicily. Along with Palermo Centrale, Messina Centrale and Syracuse it is one of the most important stations of its region. It is owned by the Ferrovie dello Stato, the national rail company of Italy.-History:The station...

 and Messina Centrale

Messina Centrale railway station

Messina Centrale is the main railway station of the Italian city of Messina, in Sicily. As Palermo Centrale, Catania Centrale and Syracuse it is one of the most important stations of its region...

 it is one of the most important stations in Sicily. It is owned by the Ferrovie dello Stato

Ferrovie dello Stato

Ferrovie dello Stato is a government-owned holding which manage infrastructure and service on the Italian rail network. The subsidiary Trenitalia is the main rail operator in Italy.-Organization:Ferrovie dello Stato subsidiaries are:...

, the national rail company of Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

.

History

The station was inaugurated on 19 January 1871 as the southern terminal of the line from Messina and Catania. On 13 August 1892 a short rail connection to the port and the station of Siracusa Marittima was opened, originally named Siracusa Porto, not used for passenger traffic. The original building of Siracusa Porto remains but the tracks have mostly disappeared and the area is now a car park. At the end of 1990s , on the line from Catania

Catania

Catania is an Italian city on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian Sea, between Messina and Syracuse. It is the capital of the homonymous province, and with 298,957 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in Sicily and the tenth in Italy.Catania is known to have a seismic history and...

, a new double-track siding from Targia with a tunnel under the city was built, causing the closure of the historical line and of the Syracusan station of Santa Panagia. Nowadays, except for the station of Targia, located in the petrochemical

Petrochemical

Petrochemicals are chemical products derived from petroleum. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sources such as corn or sugar cane....

 park in the north of the city, this station is the only one serving Syracuse. Some online maps still show the old railway lines including Google Maps. Other rail stops located in the municipality are situated in the villages of Santa Teresa Longarini, Fontane Bianche and Cassibile

Cassibile (village)

Cassibile is an Italian village and civil parish of the city and municipality of Syracuse , in Sicily. As of 2006 its population was of 5,800.-History:...

.

Structure and transport

Siracusa station is located in south of the city, in the area of the port and close to the island of Ortygia

Ortygia

Ortygia is a little island and it is the historical centre of the city of Syracuse, Sicily. The island, also known as Città Vecchia , contains many historical landmarks...

. Its building has 2 floors. After the closure of the line via Santa Panagia, passing in the eastern side of the city, the station became a terminus

Terminal Station

Terminal Station is a 1953 film by Italian director Vittorio De Sica. It tells the story of the love affair between an Italian man and an American woman. The film was entered into the 1953 Cannes Film Festival.-Production:...

.

The station is electrified, but not on the line to Ragusa

Ragusa, Italy

Ragusa is a city and comune in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Ragusa, on the island of Sicily, with around 75,000 inhabitants. It is built on a wide limestone hill between two deep valleys, Cava San Leonardo and Cava Santa Domenica...

 and Gela

Gela

Gela is a town and comune in the province of Caltanissetta in the south of Sicily, Italy. The city is at about 84 kilometers distance from the city of Caltanissetta, on the Mediterranean Sea. The city has a larger population than the provincial capital, and ranks second in land area.Gela is an...

, and served by regional trains. Mainly connected to Ragusa, Gela Catania

Catania

Catania is an Italian city on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian Sea, between Messina and Syracuse. It is the capital of the homonymous province, and with 298,957 inhabitants it is the second-largest city in Sicily and the tenth in Italy.Catania is known to have a seismic history and...

 and Messina, it is periodically linked to Palermo

Palermo

Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...

. For long distance transport Siracusa is the southern terminal of InterCity

InterCity

InterCity is the classification applied to certain long-distance passenger train services in Europe...

 and Express

Express train

Express trains are a form of rail service. Express trains make only a small number of stops, instead of stopping at every single station...

 trains to Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

, Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

 and Venice

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...

, linking it also with Genoa

Genoa

Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....

, Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

, Bologna

Bologna

Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...

, Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

, Pisa

Pisa

Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...

 and other cities. There are around 10 trains a day to Catania and Messina, several trains heading south towards Gela and one or two to Rome and beyond. There is a daily night service in both directions between Rome and Syracuse.

Facilities

There are several ticket offices and automatic machines. There is a small café, tobacconists and a police station.

See also

• Railway stations in Italy
  Railway stations in Italy
  Railway stations in Italy are maintained and operated by the RFI division of Ferrovie dello Stato Group. A minor part of them is operated by private and regional companies, conceded by the state.-Classification:...
  
  
• List of railway stations in Sicily
• Rail transport in Italy
  Rail transport in Italy
  The Italian railway system is one of the most important infrastructure in the country, with a total length of . The network is recently growing with the construction of the new high speed rail network....
  
  
• History of rail transport in Italy

External links