The papyrus of Syracuse

One of the many things that make Syracuse a unique city is to be the only place in the world, beyond the banks of the Nile, where the Papyrus grows abundantly and abundantly.

Scholars still discuss the origin of this plant, whether it was imported from Egypt or whether it naturally grew in Syracuse. Certain are the relations that the tyrant Gerone II had with the Pharaoh Ptolemy Philadelphus, hence the hypothesis that the Egyptian ruler gave the tyrant some specimens of the magnificent plant.
The sections where the papyrus grows more luxuriantly are certainly the banks of the Ciane river and within the Fonte Aretusa. Taking a walk on the banks of the Ciane means to be enveloped by this plant with a long and thin trunk, the top that creates a large green tuft that creates a tunnel of plants and unforgettable emotions, giving the traveler also a wide range of beautiful natural views from photograph.

The importance of this plant in antiquity as well as its beauty unfolds among its various uses, one of which is the creation of papyrus paper. At the Papyrus Museum in Syracuse it is possible to understand the process of working the plant up to the creation of this precious paper that is still woven by the Syracusan masters. The papyrus was used as a support to the design and to the writing also by the populations that followed that created artistic works and entire books constituted and adorned by this precious plant.