Frederick II founded it in 1232 and gave it his own title — Augusta — drawing it on a fortress island that the centuries armoured: Swabian castle, Spanish forts on the water and one of the Mediterranean's largest natural harbours, a navy base and heavy-traffic port. In its territory, the Greek ruins of Megara Hyblaea tell of a colony from 728 BC.
An industrial-archaeology curiosity: the 1917 airship hangar, a concrete giant almost unique in Europe. The island centre, with its palaces and Spanish gate, lives on the sea and excellent fish: Syracuse is half an hour away.
Near Augusta
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
