Ortygia is an island consecrated by the light and the sun: a balcony overlooking the sea. Everyone has been here: the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans. And it's here that you can meet them again; in the flavours, the shapes, the aromas, and the legends. The layers of history interweave, and Ortygia today is alive with Arethusa and funk, anchovies and Frederick II, mixology and sacred iconography. What you have in your hands is not a guide; rather, a travel notebook with the kinds of tales locals tell their many visiting friends. By intertwining historical proof and popular hearsay, Greek myths and the names of the people who are on this island every day, we have learned from Ortygia and put it all in a blender, so that you might see it from the point of view of those who live on this island day to day.